Tails To The Rescue old story version
by Wings of Valmar
Summary: Original version of my Tails fanfic from back in 2002. It has now been rewritten on my new account. I'd like to keep the old version up here though..
1. On The Beginning Of The End

BLURB FOR 'TAILS TO THE RESCUE' STORY  
  
With a cast of characters new and old, this is the sequel to Sonic  
Adventure Two, starring Tails in his very own adventure!  
  
It has been one year since the Eclipse Cannon incident. Dr. Robotnik  
has been secretly building up power again, but this time he is joined  
by a new and dangerous ally, a sinister woman named Stella. They are  
in control of a superweapon, a dark force similar to that of Chaos,  
named the Hiatus Orb.  
  
When Sonic disappears, Tails is unsuspectingly drawn into a mission to  
save the world and his best friend! With all the odds against him,  
and only three days left, let the adventure begin......... Copyright © 2001 'Tails to the Rescue' by H. Ferrie. All rights reserved.  
  
Part One. Location - High above Station Square in the dead of night.  
  
"Aaah! Look out!" Tails shouted. He took the plane into a spin to avoid a killer missile from annihilating them. The missile skimmed past them and burst into flame a few buildings away. If he had swerved only a fraction of a second later, both he and Sonic would have been dead for sure.  
"Phew, that was a close one," Sonic exclaimed. He wiped a hand across his forehead in relief, but not for long. "He's coming back, Tails! Man, doesn't Eggman ever know when to give up?"  
"I guess not." Tails replied, with a slight frown on his furry face. "Here we go again......." He performed a spectacular three-sixty followed by a vertical nose dive, weaving expertly between rows and rows of tall buildings, bullets spraying all around them but none ever touching the plane. It was certainly a heart-thumping, adrenalin-pumping experience. But what the hey, this was their life!  
Sonic turned around to see Dr.Eggman in his robotic flying machine (well, by the design it could hardly be called a plane), trying to catch up with Tails's wild piloting and lock on another deadly missile, but failing miserably.  
"Nyaah! Looks like you lost this time, Doctor Eggman!" he half- sneered triumphantly.  
"I'm not finished with you yet!" Dr.Robotnik (or Eggman as he is better known) growled.  
"Yeah right. It's not like I've never heard that before." Sonic called back. But all of a sudden there came a chug-chugging sound from the front of the plane. It didn't sound too good.  
"The engine's failing! It can't have fully recovered from the effects of the Chaos Emerald," Tails said in frenzied dismay.  
Sonic remembered that escapade all too well. A few summers ago, Tails had tried using an ancient and magical stone to power up his plane. It had not worked very well, and in the end Sonic had had to rescue Tails from the wreckage of his plane on a desert island.  
"I shouldn't have used the old plane material to build the third version of the Tornado!" Tails cried out again. But it was too late for that. Sonic was just about to say so - when the propellers burst into flames, Shots rippled out behind them in that same instant, battering the machinery that Tails had spent so long building, refining, perfecting. The plane twizzled down towards the ground. Tails was straining to steer the plane but the controls were out of use.  
"Noooooooo!" Touchdown. The plane finally made contact with the hard concrete floor surfacing. Tails and Sonic were choked in thick, black smoke. Coughing and spluttering, they stumbled out of the wreckage as the once-brand-new aircraft fizzed and crackled and slowly broke apart.  
"Well, goodbye Tornado Three," Tails commented. He then turned his back on the object which had been his pride and joy for the last three months. Tails had learnt that there was no time to feel sorry for things like that. Instead, he looked about him. They had crashed in the old derelict part of Station Square, the city slums. In a flat, square-ish space surrounded by abandoned warehouses and right next to the old docks, to be precise. Sonic nudged his elbow.  
"Here, Tails, take this and hide it, keep it safe," Sonic said, unchaining a golden amulet from around his neck. "Whatever you do, don't let Eggman get it." Tails had not paid much attention to it before, but as he looked closer, something about the amulet was....almost familiar....  
Sonic was halfway between handing the amulet to Tails when a tall, dark figure stepped out of the shadows. Tails could tell that the figure was female, her long hair gave that away. She was wearing a leather jacket, dark trousers and shades covering her eyes. But more importantly was the very long and very deadly rifle she was holding. It was pointed straight at them. Before either of them could utter a word of surprise, she said fiercely,  
"Give me the amulet, or you both die." Tails was so bewildered by her appearance that he did not react quick enough. Sonic did though.  
"Not this time, lady," he said, standing his ground defiantly. She fired. He jumped. She missed. Tails watched it as though it was some kind of slow-motion film.  
"Aaaargh!" The strange woman roared ferociously. She wiped away a few strands of dark hair from her face and prepared to fire again. Sonic was quicker. He had noticed the robots hiding in the shadows. If he was not mistaken, they were modifications of the E-100 series robot, no doubt one of Eggman's creations, ready to be used as backup for the woman with the rifle.  
In the blink of an eye, Sonic had barged his way through the horde of robots, deactivated the lot and knocked the rifle out of the woman's hands. The rifle landed on top of a skip, far out of her reach. Sonic skidded and swung round to face her.  
"Easy peasy," Sonic commented, pacing back and forth on the tarmac. The woman was in a state now. "So, let me see. You want this amulet, right? But what for? Why should I give it to you? I don't even know who you are!"  
"That's not necessary. I'm not going to let myself be defeated by the likes of you," she growled icily. Sonic's expression clearly showed that he was angry and offended. He was about to retaliate when....  
All of a sudden there was a humongous clap like rolling thunder, and the earth began to groan and tremble. Tails thought is was an earthquake at first, but in that same split-second, a great chunk of blackened metal from the still-smouldering Tornado fell off and trapped his left leg underneath it. The burning metal fell with titanic force on his shin bone and seared through fur and skin. Tails felt an immediate shockwave of pain course through him. He could not move the metal off, it was too heavy. Well and truly trapped.  
Turning his head round as far as he could, Tails saw Sonic looking wildly around, just as baffled as he was. Then, to his surprise, he saw Eggman advancing on Sonic from behind. Sonic had not noticed him yet. Eggman was holding a black 'thing' in his repulsive hands. The black spherical thing was pulsing, growing bigger and bigger. Tails saw the woman smiling with an evil glint in her eye. Something was going to happen to Sonic!  
"Sonic, behind you!" Tails shouted with all his might. Sonic turned around as the black void opened. A look of horror and dismay crossed his face as the void enveloped him. Eggman lunged for the amulet that Sonic was still holding, but the amulet disappeared into the black mist. Then Sonic was gone too. The void snapped shut and became the small black orb again.  
"No! The amulet!" Eggman hissed. Tails was too stunned to speak.  
The woman joined Eggman and they walked over to the flying machine, which had been landed a few metres away. Tails was still struggling to free his leg. "No, no, it can't be.....not true," he muttered in disbelief. The truth of what had just happened was beginning to sink in. Sonic gone....no way! It was just not possible!  
"Ha haa!" Eggman jeered. "That was easier than I thought. Farewell, Sonic! I always told you I'd win someday...." Then the woman shouted out from the cockpit;  
"Tell Sonic that Stella Novacassica wishes him a good trip! Hm hm," she allowed herself a small snigger, "after all, you'll be joining him soon enough."  
"You'll never win! Sonic isn't dead, I tell you! Sonic never gives up! He'll come back and we'll pay you back for what you've done!" Tails practically screamed at Eggman and the woman who called herself Stella. He was boiling with rage.  
"Aw, how sweet!" Eggman said sarcastically. "We don't have time for fairytales, Stella, let's get a move on." They both laughed and flew off.  
Tails was left all alone in that deserted square in the dead of night. He hated himself.  
  
He trudged back to his flat sullenly. His leg ached terribly. The boiling, heavy metal slab from the plane had left a dark scorch-mark on his leg, and his shin-bone looked unnaturally bent. He was not sure whether it was broken, sprained or what. It felt bad. But not as bad as the pain inside him.  
"It was all my fault, I let Sonic down....this can't be happening...." Tails mumbled hopelessly. He limped down the dark, silent streets for what seemed like ages. He felt like he wanted to die.  
  
"My name is Loren," said the elegant shimmering apparition before him. "And you are Tails, I know."  
"But - but how do you know my name?" Tails stammered, taking a small step back and shading his eyes from the intense light emating from the figure. He had no idea where he was. Everything was hazy and pastel pink, as though he was standing on a cloud. Every now and then, he would see a fragment of something around him, that resembled a natural landscape, like a mountainside, or a forest.  
"That is a fairy secret." Loren went on, "But I need you to do something for me. The fate of your friend and the fate of my tribe depends on what you decide to do now. Take heed of my words; There is a piece of computer hardware, a tripartite device that uses the Opicular system in the QH-10 backup drive - I'm sure you're familiar with that system, aren't you? Anyway, this precious little device is hidden in a research facility a few streets away from your flat. The building is owned by a company called M.S.C. The device, in the shape of a small white box resembling a tape recorder, is on Block 15, inside a room with a red door that nobody uses anymore. Find the device and connect it up to your computer with the Opicular system. What you find should confirm your next actions, and I hope it shall be for the good of all of us." Tails was dumbstruck.  
"I don't want to sound mean or anything, but if you know so much about it's exact location, why can't you get this tripartite device?"  
"I am a fairy, and I may have powers, but I am a spiritual apparition, and not of your world. I cannot pass through the barriers between worlds, even though there is a way for you and your friends to." She looked mournful for a second, perhaps because she longed for real flesh, like himself, Tails wondered. As he watched her, she began to disappear into the mist, not unlike Sonic had done in the clutches of the black orb. "Remember all that I have told you. In your world, you will see a rainbow when you wake, so you will know that it is not all a dream." Just then a thought hit Tails.  
"Wait!" Tails called. "You said something about 'my friend'. Does that mean Sonic? What do you know about him? Is he okay?" Tails could not bring himself to say, 'Is he alive?'.  
"All I can tell you is that Sonic is fine, although you will not be able to rescue him in your world." Loren said before her fairy form drifted away. Tails had no time to feel angry or bemused, the whole scene broke up before his very eyes.  
  
It was grey and foggy outside. Light rain drizzled down the window pane. Tails rubbed his eyes and sat up, wincing at the sudden sharp pain in his left leg. He was back in his flat in Station Square.  
Immediately recalling his dream, he glanced out of the window and saw a pale rainbow in the background. He remembered the fairy called Loren, and the tripartite device he had to get - well, steal, really - from the M.S.C building. And best of all, the news that Sonic was still alive! It made him feel considerably better.  
"And I know it's true because there's a rainbow outside!" Tails said to himself, and smiled happily.  
But another part of him felt a sort of lurching feeling, nausea, butterflies, whatever you would call it. Everyone knows the feeling, the sort you would get on a rollercoaster. Tails has felt this a lot before. It was his 'adventure' sense.  
"It's my job to make sure I get the hardware, and find a way to save Sonic somehow. Uh-oh....I think I feel another adventure coming on," Tails said to himself. "Well, that's okay, but it's gonna be a lot harder without Sonic around." His little furry face assumed a serious frown. "Hmm, I'd better get started right away." Ignoring the pain in his leg, he strode out of the building as the sun began to rise.  
  
* * * * * 


	2. A warm welcome at the MSC

In another part of the city, a young hedgehog named Amy Rose was sitting on a park bench, trying to concentrate on a book.  
"Oh, I can't live like this any more!" Amy complained, throwing the book down beside her. She felt the same as she did two summers ago, before she found that poor little lost bird and got dragged into another one of Sonic's adventures. Yup, exactly the same feeling, she thought glumly, nothing to do, nothing to see, nowhere to go....  
"It's always the same in the end," she said to herself, "When the fun and excitement's over, everyone just forgets about me and things go back to the same old regime again! I want to have adventures too, like Sonic." She cast her mind back to better times, nostalgically. Then before that, a time not unlike now, when she had nothing to do - except shop till she dropped!  
"Darn it!" Amy stood up angrily. "Am I never satisfied?" She kicked a pebble and wandered around aimlessly. Then a spark of bright orange caught her eye. She turned. "Tails? Can it be?" Amy half-whispered. She watched him go into a tall building. What was he going into the Modern Sciences Corporation research facility for? "Well, I guess I'd better go find out," she murmured, and set off after him.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Location - A parallel universe.  
  
"Please, Chancellor, listen to me," Loren pleaded her case before the fairy counsel.  
"No, acolyte Loren, you listen," the Chancellor told her sternly, raising his hand to call for quiet in the court. "Your job is to help in the Temple of Light and aid the Rituals of Becoming. You have directly disobeyed orders by communicating with a person on the Other Side."  
"But don't you see? It's the only way!" Loren cried out, ignoring the fact that she was not permitted to speak. "That little fox boy is our only hope. He witnessed the Opening of the Orb, he's the only one that knows.... We cannot defend ourselves against the Millipede Roamers, or against the Wielder of the Orb, but in that world on the Other Side, they are made from real, powerful, living flesh. We are not. They can help us, I know it. Just give me a chance."  
"Loren, that is the second time you have disobeyed orders. The people on the Other Side do not wish to help us, why, if they even knew about us, they'd kill us for sure. We will survive as we have always done, by lying low and keeping our very existence a secret," the Chancellor said gravely.  
"It won't work," Loren said obstinately, leaning forward but being pushed back immediately by two Regiment Guards. Just then, the loud, resonating clang of the Arrival Bell sounded in the Tower above the dome- shaped Council Hall. Someone had arrived at the door. The Chancellor (he was very old and learned in the field of magic) sent a jet of silver light from his hands which opened the vast iron gate-doors. A fairy messenger came fluttering in.  
"Sir, Lord Chancellor, sir," the messenger said, then before he could say any more he stumbled, clutching his shimmering chest with translucent hands, gasping for breath. Poor thing, Loren thought, it looked like he'd been flying for ages. It took up a lot of fairy energy to do that over a long period of time.  
"Yes, go on," the Chancellor prompted him.  
"Oh yes, sorry sir, it's....a most urgent message. There's been another attack....at Great Oak Lodge this time....nearly sixty injured, goodness knows how many are dead...I only...just...escaped...." The worn- out fairy was escorted to a seat by council members. The Chancellor stood up, shocked. There was an outcry of fear amongst the fairies in the Hall. Loren smirked.  
"What're you goin' to do now, Chancellor?" She smiled angelically as she was led away from the chaotic scene by the Regiment Guards.  
It was time to take matters into her own hands.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Location - Modern Sciences Corporation building.  
  
"Just where do you think you're going, young man?" The receptionist peered over her desk and glowered at Tails as he tried to sneak past.  
"Erm, I need to talk to one of the lab technicians...euh...Dr. Morrison," Tails invented, reading the name off a board behind the receptionist. "To discuss a new aeronautical design I've been working on," he added.  
"Ah, yes, you're that young mechanic - Tails or something, isn't it?" Tails nodded. "I've seen you in here before. Yes, of course you can talk to Dr. Morrison, but be quick, because he's a very busy man." Tails smiled sweetly and hurried off. He had to find Block 15 before suspicions were aroused.  
Ten minutes later, Tails had arrived at the top of the stairs on Block 15. He was out of breath. His injured leg had given him a bit, well actually a lot of trouble in getting up the stairs. Strange, he thought, the lifts were never usually out of use here. The Modern Sciences Corporation liked to keep everything in tip-top working condition. He allowed himself a few second's rest, then carried on.  
"A red room? Well, that's what Loren said," Tails thought. "It can't be in this section, these are all theoretical evaluation rooms." He glanced briefly at the opposite end of the block. There was just a pristine white door there, like all the other doors around him except.... Except what? He returned his gaze back to the door. It was different! Instead of a white plaque on the door with black capital letters punched in, there was a small dingy window covered in metal gauze.. The door did not have a handle. The very appearance of the door suggested that whatever was inside was strictly private, or even dangerous.  
"Hmm," Tails murmured as he walked towards the door. As it did not have a handle, he thrust his weight against it to try and open it. It would not budge. He tried again. Nope. It was well and truly locked. There was only one thing for it....  
In a rapid movement, Tails swung his two tails around and hit the door with a powerful force. The door splintered into tiny little pieces and Tails walked through to the corridor beyond.  
It was definitely dingier in here. Cobwebs hung from the ceiling and cockroaches scuttled about on the dusty floor. The walls were green and grimy, and moss grew on the floor like a carpet. Old rotten wooden beams framed the ceiling, and little flies and moths clustered round the tiny cracks that let in light from the rooms above. The corridor looked like it had not been cleaned for a century. That was very unusual. M.S.C were renowned for keeping their research facilities squeaky-clean. They would never let a corridor get this dirty and dusty and unused - unless they were afraid of whatever lay beyond it. Wasn't there a rumour that Eggman used to carry out secret experiments in this building?  
There was a red door at the end of the corridor. Tails ran up to it. To his surprise, the notice on it said ;  
DR. ROBOTNIK, M.S.C  
PRIVATE RESEARCH FACILITY  
ENTRY FORBIDDEN  
"So Eggman was a member of the M.S.C? The rumour is true!" Tails said. "Looks like he was turned out of the corporation. No wonder this room's been kept a secret from the rest of the facility. Who knows what he's got in here." Tails snapped open the rusty lock with ease and the door creaked open.  
Inside was an advance computer system ( which Tails greatly admired ) and stacks of files and accounts of experiments. Pushing his way through the mess, Tails soon found what he was looking for.  
Tucking the precious white box under one arm, he proceeded to examine some of Eggman's previous experiments. After all, it might come in handy for future reference. Know you enemy. He became so engrossed in reading that he did not even notice the shadow in the doorway.  
"Tails, it is you! What are you doing here?" said a high, perky voice. Tails whisked around and saw Amy standing in the doorway. What was she doing here?  
  
* * * * *  
  
The receptionist smiled as she watched Tails make his way up the stairs. What a sweet little fellow, she thought. Then she picked up her biro again and began scribbling away at her paperwork.  
It was only ten minutes later, during her coffee break, that something very important struck her.  
"Oh! Oh my, oh my!" she gasped, spilling her coffee over the desk. "Good heavens, I'd better phone right away!" The poor muddled lady scrambled for the telephone and with nervous fingers dialled the number, knocking her glasses askew as she held the receiver up to her ear.  
"Hello? Is that Dr. Wallis?" The voice on the other end assured her that it was. "Oh, I am so dreadfully sorry, I've - I've let someone through into the labs, I know you said not to, but, oh, I just wasn't thinking....sorry, sorry.."  
"Okay, okay, enough excuses. Call the security guards. I'll take care of the top secret stuff. Go on!" Dr. Wallis shouted at her down the phone before hanging up. The receptionist muttered under her breath as she fluttered around trying to clear her mind and dial the security alert number.  
The only thin she did not understand was - why wasn't anyone allowed in the building today in particular?  
  
* * * * *  
  
"Amy! Keep it down! Someone could hear us," Tails hissed, grabbing Amy's hand and dragging her out of the red room along with the precious white cuboid. "I've spent enough time here anyway. Let's get going!"  
"But...what's going on?" Amy asked as they came to the end of the corridor. She was totally puzzled. But just then a group of security guards jumped out at them from around the corner and an alarm bell went off. No time to answer Amy....just RUN!!! Tails pulled Amy along as he dodged to the side, he knew the building better than Amy so he led the way.  
"Security breach on Block 15!" The first guard spoke into a walkie talkie. "We have the intruders in sight. Close off all escape routes and get ready to intercept at Tertiary stairwell. Lock off all main research areas." He clicked the walkie talkie back into place at his hip and drew out his weapon like the rest of the guards as they raced behind the two intruders.  
Tails thrust open the nearest door and entered a research room, filled with odd looking machinery and strange contraptions. It looked more like a factory than a laboratory. Luckily, it was devoid of people. He looked around for a place to hide. He had to think fast, because the guards were nearing the door.  
"Up there, look!" Amy shouted, pointing up at the metal stairs. There was an open door beyond the stairs.  
'Yeah, c'mon," Tails cried, and they sprinted for the stairs. They were halfway up when the security guards entered the room.  
"There they are!" roared the main security guard, the one with the walkie talkie. "Get them!" Tails and Amy gasped, hurrying all the more. When they reached the top, they had a surprise waiting for them, another guard came out of the door at the top of the stairs. Amy shrieked. They were cornered!  
Tails spotted a metal cable above him. It ran straight across the room. It gave him an idea.  
"Quick, Amy, grab hold!" Tails said, leaping into the air and grabbing the thick wire overhead. Amy caught on to his idea and hesitatingly followed. The ride began.....  
"Put your hands above your heads and slowly....WHAT? You can't do that!" the guard broke off, astonished.  
"Stun them!" another guard shouted, and about twenty stun-guns pointed up at Tails and Amy who were whizzing above the crowd, straight towards the -  
"Window! Look out!" yelled Tails, and he shut his eyes to prepare for impact. There was no stopping now.  
"Wouaaa!" Amy screamed. Jets of light shot out from the stun-guns just as there was an almighty CRASH! and the window burst, sending glass shards flying in an arc. Tails and Amy flew out with the glass and landed sprawling on the roof tiles below. The whole lab scenario lasted under half a minute.  
The first thing Amy did was laugh.  
"Ah-ha ha ha! Oh, Tails, I haven't had this much fun in ages! That crashing-through-the-window thing really did surprise those guys, huh?"  
" I guess. Hey, it's been a long time since we've done that sort of thing together," Tails pondered. He glanced down at the tripartite device. It was unharmed.  
"There's more coming up too," Amy said, "if we don't hurry and get outta here." Tails picked himself up and walked across the rooftop with Amy. Nothing gone wrong so far -  
"Aiieee!" shrieked Amy, clumsily falling through a skylight; the second time she encountered glass that day.  
"Ammmyyyyyy!" She had still been holding onto Tails's hand when she fell.  
"Ooofff." Fox and hedgehog made contact with hard metal floor.  
"Ooh, that hurt," Amy exclaimed, adjusting her hairband. "I didn't even see that skylight - eww, there's a spider! Gross!" She made a face and shuffled away from the little creature.  
"Do you think that threw them off the track?" Tails asked, slowly standing up. They had landed behind a huge cylinder in a big, spacey lab.  
"Well, obviously."  
"Okay, it's time we....aaah, my leg!" Tails doubled over, clutching his left leg, writhing in pain.  
"Tails, are you ok? What's the matter? And how'd you get that gigantic bruise on your leg?" Amy bombarded him with questions as she made him sit down and inspected his leg. A shuffling sound from the other side of the cylinder stopped her in her tracks. "What was that?" she whispered. A head peered round the corner.  
"Here I come, ready or not! Game's over, kids," said the security guard gruffly.  
"Aaaaah!" They were out of there in a flash, leaving the rather dumb security guard baffled.  
More security was waiting for them when they reached the stairs. They had no choice but to go up. Tails's leg was throbbing more painfully than before, but he still managed to reach the top of the staircase before Amy. In the first room that he came to, he yanked open the window. They were twenty metres above ground.  
"You have got to be joking. I can't jump out there!" Amy protested. But the first few guards had reached the top of the stairs.  
"Well, I can," Tails answered back, and, grabbing Amy around the waist, he jumped out of the window.  
  
"Tails, never do that again!" Amy told him as she brushed grass off her skirt. "I was so frightened."  
"Well, what else have I got two tails for?" Tails said.  
"What were you doing up there anyway? And what's up with the little white box?"  
"I'm going to show you what the box is for once we get back to my flat." Tails answered, gently massaging his injured leg. "I'll tell you all about it on the way...."  
And for once, Amy did not complain.  
  
* * * * * 


	3. The Hiatus Orb

Location: Angel Island.  
  
"Come on, Knuckles. Let's just put the past behind us and start again. You know you want to," Rouge said sweetly, moving forwards seductively and revealing the outline of her curvy body. Knuckles had to gather all his willpower to stop himself from drooling. In his opinion, it would be a lot easier to have this argument if she was not making tantalising poses every time she talked.  
"No! It's just gonna be the same as before. All you want is treasure! I'm having nothin' to do with you." He spat on the ground in front of him. Rouge put on a hurt look.  
"You're still mad about what I said on the space colony, aren't you? Okay, I made mistakes before, but please give me another chance. Can't you just imagine it? We'd be an excellent team, the two greatest treasure hunters in the world! There'd be nothing we couldn't do." Knuckles tried to keep his eyes on her face, wanting to look dominating, but he found his eyes wandering downwards, towards her cleavage. 'No, I do NOT like her, I do NOT like her!' he thought fervently.  
"I know what you're like, bat girl," Knuckles said as hatefully as he could, ignoring the lusting inside him. "And I told ya already, I don't want nothin' to do with you." Actually, he did, but he did not want her to know that.  
"Fine. If you're really sure." Rouge shrugged and walked, hips wiggling, to the edge of the island. She spread her violet wings, but before she went, she turned her head. "Do you really want to spend your whole life on this island guarding the Master Emerald like a total loser? You could be doing something worthwhile with your life. It's up to you...." She flew off, leaving Knuckles tangled in a web of confused emotions.  
  
* * * * * Location - Unknown.  
  
Sonic turned around as Tails shouted "Behind you!" To his surprise, he saw Eggman advancing on him, holding a black spherical object. Before he had time to protest, the black rob grew bigger and sucked him in. The touch of the misty substance numbed his senses and he could not move, or cry out. Tails, Eggman, the mysterious woman, the remains of the Tornado and everything else faded away as the cold, black fog enveloped him. It really was deadly cold. He could not even think properly.  
As quickly as it had come, the fog subsided. Sonic bumped down on seemingly solid ground. He stood up and rubbed his eyes, expecting to find himself in Station Square. But he was not. Trees surrounded an ornate forest path he was standing on. All around him - trees and bushes.  
"Where am I?" he wondered aloud. "What is this place?" He was totally bewildered. "I thought I was in Station Square! Well, at least the amulet's safe," he said, inspecting the delicate amber charm he still held in his hand. Then he realised. Tails! He was left to fight Eggman all by himself! Tails ought to be able to take care of things, Sonic assured himself. All the same, he'd better try and find a way out of this weird place. He set off down the pleasant-looking but strangely formidable forest path.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Location - Tails's apartment.  
  
"That should do it," Tails said after about twenty minutes. Amy had been sitting on a stool in his flat, waiting. She was thoroughly bored.  
"Finally," Amy groaned in relief. "Now let's see what this is all about."  
"Okay. Here goes." Tails dragged the mouse down to the bottom of the screen and clicked on 'EXECUTE'. 'Oh no," he muttered.  
"What now?" Amy exclaimed, rolling her eyes.  
"It's the system this computer uses. It's not fully compatible with the Opicular. And the fact that the device is tripartite makes it a lot harder too. Loren could have warned me about this. Now it's gonna take ages to find the right file." He fiddled about a bit more and soon the screen became a multitude of complicated looking figures and network models.  
"How do you know which one's the right one?" Amy asked.  
"I don't. The system is designed in this way because there's so much information to hold. Believe it or not, this makes it a lot easier to find the file itself, because it divided the info into three main parts." Tails checked out a few files. "This thing contains all of Dr. Eggman's top secret information. Look here, the Eclipse Cannon, Project Shadow, Chaos Emeralds, the Egg Carrier! Amy, we have the key to beating Dr. Eggman here!" Tails beamed at Amy.  
"Hey, stop there a second," Amy pointed at the screen. "I saw something." Tails scrolled back to the previous file. "It's you!" Amy squealed.  
Sure enough, there was a picture of Tails in that file. The title read: 'Miles 'Tails' Prower, Major Enemy No.2.' Tails skimmed the page.  
"Eggman kept a whole file about me? How thoughtful," Tails commented, letting Amy read off the screen.  
"Oh, Tails, look!" Amy shook his shoulder. "At the bottom of the page there......Eggman's planning to..."  
"Destroy me." He finished her sentence for her. "Again...." Now it was Tails's turn to roll his eyes.  
"First Sonic, now he's after you!" Amy cried, burying her head on his shoulder.  
"Amy, that's not important," Tails said firmly. "Eggman's always trying to get rid of us. The thing is, we need to find out how he's harnessing all that energy before it's too late." He exited from the file. Entering the third and final section of the tripartite visual display, his eyes lit up in excitement. "I think this is the one!" Tails whispered, connecting to a small passage near the borders. The file it held was very tiny, but it had the capability to hold 5.04 gigabytes, or so the computer told him. No file that small could have such a big containment capability - unless it contained some sort of visual display. Tails entered the file.  
FLASH! CRACKLE! Tails started. Amy jumped. The screen lit up intensely, flashes of light bursting out every split-second, extreme blackness filling the screen between flashes. Objects, people and places flashed by at such a high speed that it was impossible to identify the scenes. It was like watching a movie trailer in double-quick time. The strobe lighting was so intense that an epileptic would have died in an instant on viewing. Background music was loud and foreboding. Tails watched it with amazement. Then he understood. Just like a movie trailer, the images were trying to tell a story in a cryptic way. Think 'Eggman plot' he told himself. The images became clearer. There was that black orb that engulfed Sonic, and there was a big city, suddenly destroyed by a flash of light. People being brainwashed, then a glimpse of Loren and her tribe. A monster, destroying Loren's civilisation....terror, destruction...then the stern face of an elder fairy in what looked like a sort of council, now back to the city. Thunder breaking out, fire and lava, buildings collapsing, then an image of Eggman at the centre of it all, controlling everything with the orb. White block writing appeared on the screen; 'THE WORLD IS ABOUT TO CHANGE'.... (next message) 'AS IT WELCOMES THE DAWNING OF A NEW EMPIRE'... Suddenly the mini-film ended, the screen went black, leaving only two sentences at the top left corner in white. The music stopped abruptly, completely cut off.  
Tails, who had been frozen to the edge of his seat for the last minute or so, slowly stood up. He now understood Eggman's plot. Explaining to Amy, he said, "It has a hidden message, basically, use the black orb to take over the world and turn people into mindless zombies. The two sentences at the top of the screen ; 'AMULET RETRIEVAL: IN PROCESS. 3ds CNTDWN - REGENERATION. M.E.1 - ELIMINATION COMPLETE. M.E.2 - ELIMINATION IN PROCESS.' that meant, 'The amulets are being retrieved. Three days countdown until regeneration. Major Enemy One ( that's Sonic ) has been eliminated, or so Eggman believes, and Major Enemy Two ( that's me ) is next on the list."  
"I know!" Amy exclaimed. "Eggman must need the amulets to power up whatever he's using to destroy the world with, just like he used the Chaos Emeralds to power up Chaos!"  
"Good thinking, Amy. Hey, what's this?" Tails said, for the screen suddenly shifted to a factfile about the orb. Tails read with interest. It was an entire history about the orb, called the Hiatus Orb, and it's properties and uses.  
"I saw that black thing on the video," Amy told Tails. "Is that the thing that swallowed Sonic?"  
"It didn't swallow him," Tails corrected her. "It just threw him into another dimension. The black thing is called the Hiatus Orb, which literally means 'The orb of the yawning gap, or void.' It's a power source from a parallel world, supposedly Loren's, and it requires the Amulets of Hiatus to be restored to it's extreme power. Allegedly, there has to be a Wielder of the Orb, appointed by order of the Orb itself, for the Orb to reach it's full momentum, and only a Witness to the Truth can stop the Wielder." Tails sounded like a walking dictionary as he spoke. "Even though the Orb may be allowed to reach it's full power at any time, it only has the ability to unleash this 'ultimate power' once in a millennium. And guess what? The next date for unleashing is in three days time!" Amy groaned. "For centuries, the fairy tribes of our parallel universe have tried to keep the amulets apart, and safe from human interference, to stop this from happening. But now it is getting harder for them as human technology advances and more people are finding out about the amulets, trying to steal them and claim the Orb's dark energy as theirs to exploit. This sounds serious." Apart from discovering the danger of the Hiatus Orb, Tails was not in the least surprised. Another typical Eggman plot, just like last time, and the time before. He did not realise how different this adventure was going to be.  
"Eggman's sure done his homework," Amy said, gaping at all the info. "Now I know why he was chasing you and Sonic last night. He wanted the amulet."  
"Personally I'd like to know how Sonic got that amulet in the first place. If he was it's guardian or something, he could have at least told us about it." Tails began disconnecting all the cables he had used to wire up the tripartite device. "We can't let anyone find this," he said, picking up the little white box.  
"Why not?" Amy asked in her usual chirpy voice.  
"It's too risky. If anyone knows there'll be one of two disasters, either there's worldwide panic, or the whole of the armed forces gets involved, like last year, remember the GUN operation? They're no match for Eggman. They'd slow things down and get in the way."  
"Oh yeah. I remember that alright. Anyway, that means it's all up to US now," Amy said happily. She was thoroughly thrilled at the prospect of leading an adventure with Tails. Poor Amy, she was so often left out of such escapades!  
"Yeah, I guess. And wherever Eggman goes is where we're gonna find Sonic. Loren told me there's a way to..." But Tails never finished his sentence, because something big rammed into the door. Tails and Amy were alert at once. To their horror, sticking through the door was a ginormous horn, about a foot long. And another, and another! Their ears were filled with a loud droning that almost perforated their eardrums. The horns kept jabbing into the door. Tails did not like the look of those serrated edges..... " Amy, into the bathroom!" Tails shouted, covering his ears to shut out the droning.  
"What? I can't hear you!" Amy shouted back.  
"Go into the...oh, just come!" Tails yelled, pulling her by the shoulder into the next room. Behind them, the 'things' outside the dor had managed to break it down and into the bedroom buzzed three humongous metallic-winged beetles. Their horns were like chain saws, demolishing everything in their path. Tails took one horrified look and slammed shut the bathroom dor. Amy opened the door to the corridor.  
"Tails, quick. This is no time to take a break." Tails, who had slumped against the shower, got up immediately on seeing the lethal horn of the killer beetle ram through the bathroom dor. They made it out of the apartment building and onto the main street. Amy was almost crying.  
"Tails, someone knows that we know...that's why the beetles were sent, wasn't it? Wasn't it?"  
"Yeah, someone wants the tripartite device back, I'll bet. The security alert in M.S.C ; someone must have known what we were doing. It's alright, Amy, you can cry if you want to. Those beetle robots scared me to death!" Tails comforted her.  
"Those thing were robots?"Amy asked. Then she went on. "It's not that I'm frightened, it's just...an hour ago I was wandering round Station Square, thinking it was the beginning of another boring day, then suddenly I'm caught up in this great big adventure, I find out that Sonic's lost in some parallel universe, and things are just happening so fast I can't catch up with them."  
"I know," Tails said. "We'll find a way, I promise."  
End of Part One * * * * * 


	4. The plot deepens

Part Two. Location - Loren's world.  
  
"There has to be some way I can do this," Loren said angrily. The fairy council had taken away her powers to prevent her from further disobedience. They refused to believe her every time she talked to them! Sooner or later, those Millipede Roamers were going to take over completely. Then the Wielder of the Void would come.... She did not want to think about what would happen then. She gazed out of the window and saw the tribal chieftains from all the separate fairy communities heading towards the main city. Things must be getting worse, because the many different tribes hardly ever got together unless something serious had happened. Loren yawned. They would not stand a chance against the Millipede Roamers.  
She had to help, but how? She was only a fairy, a spiritual apparition. If only she was human.....  
"That's it!" Loren snapped her fingers. She scribbled away on her notepad excitedly. "I have to make myself human, so I can pass over to the Other Side." She had heard of fairies making such changes before. Luckily, she happened to know of a power source in the Fairy Temple. It should be large enough for the required magical force. She would definitely need the help of her best friend, Mara, seeing as Loren's power had been taken away. There might even be enough time to write a letter to the Chancellor, to 'inform' him of what she was going to do. Of course, she would have to make sure the letter got to him after she had made the change.  
She became so engrossed in her plans that she did not notice the time passing. By nightfall she had everything sorted. Filled with a tingling anticipation, Loren tried to sleep, waiting for the new dawn.  
Her plan was risky, but if only she could pull it off, she could save both worlds.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Location - In Robotnik's base, underneath a volcano.  
  
"Are you sure this'll work?" drawled Stella. She was extremely sceptical of Eggman's idea. She drummed her long, black polished nails on the top of a piano-like electronics board. Lava bubbled in the fenced-off pit behind her.  
"Of course I am sure. It can't go wrong." Eggman said.  
"That's what you said about the Eclipse Cannon," Stella reminded him.  
"This is a little different. The weapons I need to magnify the Void's power are ready for shipment any time now. My 'friend' in the research facility, Dr. Wallis, will make sure they'll get on that cruiser no trouble. Meanwhile, I'm going to do a few experiments concerning the Hiatus Orb."  
"Then I shall go back to the stronghold on Karmen Island. I have a few experiments of my own to do." Stella picked up her leather jacket and brushed her hair back from her face with the sweep of a hand. "Wasn't there something you said about that friend of Sonic's?" she queried.  
"Yes, that would be Tails you're talking about. I've recently found out from Dr. Wallis that he's managed to get hold of my tripartite device, my computer files! How, I don't know, but he must have found out what we're doing by now."  
"Got it all sorted," Stella said, patting the new double-barrelled rifle at her side. "I'll track him down." She strode out of the control room.  
The monorail took her straight to the flight deck. Amongst the many planes and helicopters that Robotnik had made was the Neurocopter, her very own aviation model. The Neurocopter was the fastest, flashest, most up-to- date model of it's type. It carried deadly weapons, and it's fastest speed was seven hundred and fifty miles per hour. She smiled maliciously. No way was that fox boy going to escape her!  
  
* * * * *  
  
Location - The Casino, Station Square.  
  
Tails slumped against a pinball machine. Good. They had lost the beetle robots. Those beetle robots were a nuisance. As soon as Amy and he had reached the station, the beetles had come after them again!  
"Amy, we lost 'em." Tails puffed. Then he stopped, looking around him. "Amy?" Where had she gone? He searched amongst the bright, flashing neon lights and crowds of people in the Casino. He could not see her. " Great. Now I've lost Amy," Tails moaned. He pushed through the crowds in a frantic effort to find her.  
He wandered over to the central platform, which was slightly more spacious. It was karaoke night at the Casino, and a beautiful girl's voice floated out from the karaoke stage. Smoke from cigars filled the room, and the neon lights were making him feel dizzy. The song ended, and marvellous applause came from the audience.  
Tails was trying to figure out the best way to find Amy in the throng when someone rushed out at him from the crowd. It was a young female fox, wearing a white vest top and a tartan skirt. "Oh boy," Tails murmured.  
"Ooooooh, MILES! It's you, it's you, it's you! Oh, I've waited so long to see you, Miles! Oh, it's really you!" The girl clasped her arms around his neck and hugged him. Then she planted a big kiss on his cheek. Tails knew that voice, it was the girl who had just been singing for karaoke night.  
"Wha...I don't understand. Who are you?" Tails asked, looking confused. He backed off.  
"It's me, Sandi. I'm your sister. Don't you remember me, Miles?" She cocked her head questioningly to one side.  
"I....have a sister?" Tails gasped.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Location - Station Square, near the station.  
  
Amy was annoyed. When those beetles had shown up again a few minutes ago, Tails had run off somewhere. She had no idea where he was. She wandered back to the station, aimlessly kicking an empty soda can, hands on hips.  
When she turned the corner, she had a surprise waiting for her. There was Tails, lying limp on the ground, with someone - a female fox - standing over him. She panicked, and ran over to him.  
"Get away from my friend!" Amy said savagely, catching the girl's shoulder.  
"Me? But I - ," the girl stammered.  
"If you've hurt him, I'll...." Amy began, but the girl interrupted her,  
"I haven't done anything to Miles!"  
"From what I could see, it looked like you were." Amy glowered.  
"You don't understand!"  
"Oh, don't I?"  
"You really are dumber than I thought, for a girl with absolutely no dress sense!" That was a major insult for Amy.  
"Right, you asked for it! Bring it on!" Amy shouted. They began to fight. Amy was in a rage. Instant hate had sparked the second she saw this new girl, and Amy really was convinced that she had done something to Tails.  
This girl was extremely skilled in martial arts, Amy considered as she shifted to one side to avoid a karate - chop. She must have had professional training or something. Amy was determined to prove she was better. She caught the girl off guard in an arm lock and tried to force her backwards. The girl let go, and aimed a punch at her. She missed, and Amy tripped her up. She grabbed Amy's wrist and pulled her down in the mud too. Amy boldly slapped her across the face. Back to the arm lock again.  
"For a girl with no dress sense, you're pretty good at hand-to-hand combat," the girl commented.  
"If you routinely save the world from destruction, you would be too," Amy snarled.  
"Then we're quits." The girl thought Amy was joking. But before they could start at each other again, a faint voice called out from the corner.  
"Stop fighting. Amy, Sandi," Tails said, struggling into an upright position. Amy and Sandi both turned their heads in synchronisation.  
"Miles!"  
"Tails!" They both shouted at the same time, rushing to his side.  
"Miles, thank goodness you're awake now," the girl whispered, taking hold of Tails's hand. Strange, thought Amy. It was almost as though this girl knew him really well!  
"Leave him alone," Amy hissed. The girls eyed each other angrily, fists clenched.  
"Amy, listen." Tails interrupted the tense atmosphere between them. "This is my sister, Sandi. Sandi, meet Amy, girlfriend of my best friend, Sonic, and also a very good friend of mine."  
'That's a mouthful," Sandi exclaimed. "How do you do, Amy?" Sandi held out her hand. Amy refused and shot her an acid glance. She had still not forgotten about what Sandi said about her dress sense. Also, Sandi's smug 'Let's all make up and be friends' attitude was irritating her. She could not believe that the girl holding her hand out to her was the same girl who had been violently fighting her mere seconds ago.  
"You have a sister? Tails, you have a lot of explaining to do," Amy told Tails.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Location - Angel Island.  
  
On the barren, desolate Angel Island, Knuckles sat, thinking. He had had the same dream two nights in a row. Something about Sonic, being trapped somewhere, like in another dimension, if there ever was such a thing. What could the dream mean? Knuckles had a strange feeling that this dream was true. What if Sonic was in trouble?  
Subconsciously, his thoughts shifted to Rouge. He desperately wanted to make up with her, he liked her a lot - but he could not trust her, she was so unpredictable! He gazed out at the pinky-gold horizon longingly. Beautiful sunsets like this were his favourite, it was when he felt the presence of the Master Emerald at it's strongest. Yet, was this really what he wanted? He went over Rouge's acid parting remark : 'Do you really want to spend your whole life on this island guarding the Master Emerald like a total loser?'  
Suddenly Knuckles sat bolt upright. The hairs on the back of his neck were prickling. He scanned the horizon and saw a green fog spreading out over the sky, looming dangerously in his direction. Knuckles stared, entranced. Something was not right, he knew it, but all the same he could not tear his gaze from the green fog.  
The fog was almost directly overhead now. It seemed to condense in a cloudlike formation. Then it began rumbling like thunder; it was glowing brighter and more vivid. A wave of electricity pulsed out from the green storm cloud and it cam back in again. It did this a second time, crackles of charged up energy flickering about the cloud.  
In the blink of an eye, a terrific crackling flash of green lightning shot out from the cloud straight at Knuckles. It struck him too quickly for him to realise. His whole body contorted as the dark energy shocked through him, and his last conscious thought was 'Must save Master Emerald' , then he knew no more.  
  
The echidna stood up, stretched, looked about him. He did not recognise this strange place. He seemed to be on an island floating in the sky, with a giant jewel in the centre of it. Even though he did not know this place, he could sense the presence of a good force. He shook his head in disgust. All good things would be eliminated one day, he thought darkly.  
He walked mechanically to the edge of the island. The only thing that was important to him was the command inside his head ; 'Get the Amulet and destroy Tails.'  
"Yes, Master Robotnik," Knuckles said in a robot-like voice. He would do whatever the voice told him to do. The dark forces of the Orb had control of him now.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Location - On a train bound for the Mystic Ruins.  
  
"So, you see, after we came out of the Casino, Sandi and I were talking, and my shin started hurting. I felt kinda dizzy, I suppose I must have totally blacked out or something 'cos the next thing I knew, the two of you were having a go at each other." Tails explained. Amy blinked.  
"I thought she was hurting you!" ( she , of course, meant Sandi )  
"I was trying to wake you up after fainting when she attacked me!" Sandi said, pointing a finger accusingly at Amy.  
"Hey, quit the arguing," Tails yawned, fighting to stay awake. "Let's just take it easy until we get to my workshop. Oh, and, Sandi..."  
"Aha?"  
"Stop the 'Miles' thing. Just call me Tails. Everyone else does." With that, Tails nodded off to the smooth rocking motion of the train. When he was fully asleep, Sandi whispered to Amy,  
"We really ought to get a general practitioner or something to take care of my little bro'. That wound on his leg looks real bad."  
"The exploration team in the Mystic Ruins should have a first aid tent. But apart from that, I'm stuck for ideas. Going to the hospital might have to wait until this whole thing's over and done with. After all, only two more days until the end of the world."  
"Huh?"  
"Tell ya later." Amy smiled and then yawned, laid her head back against the seat and fell asleep. Sandi stared out of the window at the stars twinkling brightly against the velvety sky.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Location - Unknown.  
  
There was something moving in the bushes up ahead, Sonic was sure of it. Something big. Sonic watched from behind a tree. Slowly, a huge red and white mottled shape emerged from behind the rhododendrons. It looked like a gigantic crab with two big stalk eyes and dozens of legs, and it was as big as a bus. The huge front pincers and wide, slavering jaws with sharp fangs did not look too friendly. The crab looked around hungrily and made it's way through the forest, slashing down trees with a single blow. It began ambling in Sonic's direction. Sonic suddenly felt vulnerable, and ran for cover behind the waterfall opposite. The monster did not seem to notice. Sonic watched through the curtain of water as the creature cut down the very tree he had taken refuge under only a minute ago. It carried on slashing down the vegetation and lumbering through the forest. When it was out of sight, Sonic exhaled. Ankle deep in water, Sonic splashed to the edge of the waterfall pool. He was just about to sett off again when he heard someone cry out in the distance. It was coming from the direction that the monster had gone in! Whoever it was, he had to go and help them!  
He reached the location of the sound in a couple of minutes. Stepping into a forest clearing, Sonic saw the creature attacking a bridge, trying to get to a beautiful temple that lay on the other side. Then he saw two shimmering figures, which had attracted the monster's attention. The figures had long, elegant wings and were dressed very strangely. Fairies or something, Sonic thought. The monster had them cornered on the very edge of the bridge. One fairy shot out a jet of light from his hand. It bounced off the monster harmlessly and the fairies shrieked. They could not defend themselves! That giant crab was going to get them.....  
"Come here, ya overgrown lobster! Why doncha try me for size?" Sonic carefully aimed a stone at the crab's head, then threw. It struck right on target. The giant crab turned around, clicking it's pincers and making a low, guttural growling sound. It fixed it's irksome eyes directly on Sonic, who did not flinch. "C'mon, big boy. Scared or somethin'?" Sonic taunted. The crab monster moved forwards in a spider-like fashion, pincers clicking formidably. Sonic instinctively grabbed a sturdy twig from a bush behind him, twirled it around expertly in his hand then held it tight, ready to use it in defence against the advancing killer beast. The two fairies who had been so close to death stepped off the wooden bridge fence and curiously watched the strange newcomer fight off the monster.  
The crab jabbed a pincer at Sonic. He ducked and rolled over, the two metre long pincer swinging harmlessly overhead. As the crab came round again, Sonic noticed the fleshy white underside of it's belly, the only area that was not covered in tough, impenetrable armour. That was it's weak spot! Sonic was constantly avoiding killer swipes and punches as he tried to get to it's belly, He hesitated for a moment, and it's tongue shot out, grabbing him like a frog would to a fly. The crab's mouth loomed closer. It was going to crush him with those humongous fangs! One glimpse of those pointy, slavering fangs was enough, Sonic rammed the stick into the crab's eye. It bellowed, and released him. Sonic fell to the ground, covered in monster saliva. Not pleasant.  
The enraged monster began repeatedly chopping about with it's deadly pincers. Blood and pus was streaming out of the eye wound. The crab blindly swung it's left pincer at Sonic. He parried the blow with his stick. The pincer snapped the stick in half easily; Sonic was left with just a splintered end. As the monster lifted a leg to crush him, he dived for it's belly and thrust the remains of his stick into the fleshy underside. The splintered point of the wood sliced through the monster's guts and Sonic had to get out of there quick before he got all messy again. The monster shuddered and finally collapsed, dead.  
"There. That wasn't so hard." Sonic boasted, throwing the stick down and walking over to the slightly shaken fairies. "Are you alright? That monster looked too close for comfort there."  
"Oh, we're fine now. Thank-you for saving us both. It was very brave of you," the female fairy said.  
"Are you new to these parts? I don't think we've seen you before," her partner said. Sonic held out his hand.  
"I'm Sonic the Hedgehog. But you can call me Sonic." Surprisingly, when the first fairy shook his hand, he could hardly feel anything at all. His hand almost passed right through the fairy's! So they were just spiritual apparitions, unable to defend themselves against creatures of the material world.  
"I am Marinka, and this is my partner, Ida," the female fairy told Sonic. "You look tired. Come to our village and rest a while. It's not that far from here," she offered.  
"Yeah, that'd be great. Thanks," Sonic said, and the three of them walked onwards through the forest.  
  
* * * * * 


	5. Familiar faces at the Mystic Ruins

Location - The Mystic Ruins.  
  
Tails slowly came to his senses and sat up. The sky was a grey-ish purple hue. The first rays of sunlight were beginning to stream out over the horizon. He was in the Mystic Ruins. Sandi and Amy must have carried him off the train, because he did not remember doing it himself.  
"Wake up, you two, it's morning," Tails whispered, gently shaking the two sleeping figures beside him. Amy groaned. Sandi yawned.  
"Ohhh, is it morning already?" Amy complained.  
"Hey, Miles, sorry, I mean Tails, isn't that your workshop over there?" Sandi stretched her arms wide then pointed to a small building not far off.  
"Yup, sure is..." Tails began, but Sandi cut him off with a gasp.  
"Who's that?" She pointed in the other direction, towards the waterfall that was cascading crystal clear water behind them. Tails saw a red figure with a mop of spiky spines walking purposefully towards them.  
"Is that Knuckles?" Amy queried. "What's he doing here?"  
"I don't know, but let's go and find out," said Tails.  
"Who's Knuckles?" asked Sandi.  
"A friend of ours," Amy replied. They went over to greet him. But when Tails reached Knuckles, he knew something was wrong. Knuckles seemed - well, different. His eyes had gone all cloudy and there was an unnatural sort of aggressiveness about him.  
"Hey, Knuckles, how's it going?" Tails said in a friendly tone. Knuckles looked Tails straight in the eye, his eyebrows lowered, a wildly insane smile on his face.  
"Don'cha know? Time's up, fox boy. It's time to stop running and hiding, time to get what's been coming to you for a long time!" Whilst Knuckles was talking, he was stepping forwards, forcing a very bewildered Tails back with each step. Without warning, he punched forcefully at Tails, who leapt backwards well out of the way.  
"Snap out of it, Knuckles! Why are you attacking me?" Tails said, catching his breath. What did Knuckles think he was doing?  
"You aint gonna win this battle. The Dark Force rules all!" Knuckles cries, enraged. He lunged for Tails, catching his wrists and pinning him p against a tree. Tails kicked him in the chest with his good leg. Knuckles fell back, winded by the blow. Sandi ran up to Tails and helped him to stand up. Amy grabbed Knuckles's arm and yanked him back before he could get at Tails again.  
"Knuckles, what's the matter with you? Tails isn't an enemy!" Knuckles shook her off and pushed her away.  
"Stay out of this, you girls," Knuckles rasped menacingly. "This is between me - and him." Knuckles raised his hand in a sinister fashion directly at Tails.  
"Amy, you'd better do as he says. You too, Sandi. If we're gonna settle this we'd better do it his way, or things might get worse." Tails braced himself for a second attack.  
"Tails, don't! He's insane! He might kill you!" Amy shouted, covering her mouth with her hands, scared for him.  
"You can't fight with an injured leg!" Sandi screeched at Tails.  
"Sandi, Knuckles isn't meant to know that!" Tails hissed urgently at Sandi.  
"Oops." Sandi bit her lip nervously. Knuckles smirked. An injury? That would make his task all the more easy.......  
Knuckles aimed another savage punch at Tails, but Tails dodged around his side. As Knuckles moved in again, Tails spun his two tails around, whip-like, and sliced open the flesh on Knuckles's upper arm. Knuckles bellowed in pain and dealt Tails a blow to the face. Tails clutched his cheek in agony and closed his eyes for a second. Whilst he was recovering from the momentary shock, Knuckles crept behind him. Tails opened his eyes again hazily and felt his arm being pulled roughly up behind his back. Tails realised with horror what Knuckles was doing. He was twisting his arm up, up behind him, aiming to snap the bones in the most agonising way possible.  
"Knuckles, quit it! That hurts!" Tails squealed.  
"It's meant to," Knuckles said darkly, twisting all the more. Pretty soon there would be an almighty crack!  
"The creep!" Sandi raged as she watched. "I'd show him a thing or two about combat if I could."  
Tails knocked Knuckles's feet off the ground with a swift swipe of his tails. The intense grip released and Tails fell on all fours. He shook his numb arm and turned around to find Knuckles right in front of him. Knuckles punched him full on in the chest and Tails stumbled a good few feet back. He scrambled up again as Knuckles swaggered towards him. Tails nimbly dodged behind a tree to escape the friend-turned-crazy-maniac that was trying to hurt him big-time. Knuckles sauntered over to the tree that Tails was using as an obstacle and laughed manically.  
"Come out, come out, wherever you are!" He grinned as though it was all a big joke. On the other side of the tree, Tails's heart was beating rapidly. Knuckles had totally lost it, he had gone mental, who knows what he might do?  
Knuckles took one definite, thudding step to his left. Tails nervously jumped to his left too. Knuckles did the same to his right, causing Tails to move again in an agitated way. Knuckles wanted to torment him before he destroyed him.  
Tails finally burst out from his cover and Knuckles sneakily tripped him up. Tails went sprawling in the dirt. Knuckles brutally kicked his injured leg. Tails scrunched up his eyes in extreme pain and clenched his teeth. Then he lost control and began to convulse. Knuckles kicked again and again. Tails was helpless. He was not sure if he would be able to stand this for very much longer.......  
Amy and Sandi watched the cruel display of strength in shock. Even though Tails had asked them to stay out of it, they could not just sit and watch. Knuckles had gone too far this time.  
"C'mon, Amy, we have to help!" Sandi urged.  
"And fast," Amy agreed. The two girls raced towards Knuckles, who had raised a fist in the air.  
"It's the end of the line, sonny!" Knuckles growled. Tails closed his eyes. This was it....  
"No!" Amy slapped Knuckles across the face while Sandi pressed her fingers down on the pressure points on the back of his neck. Sandi pressed as hard as she could, until Knuckles passed out and sank to the ground. Amy and Sandi carried Tails a good distance away from him.  
"Tails! Oh, are you alright?" Sandi asked, holding him tight. For a while all Tails could do was cuddle in to his sister.  
"What made Knuckles act like that, anyway?" Amy pondered out loud.  
"I don't know. He's crazy, Amy. He's gone mad," said Tails feebly.  
"Some friend you've got," Sandi remarked. But Tails was not listening to her. He was thinking about something Knuckles had said before he had attacked.  
"Hey, you know just before Knuckles attacked me, he mentioned something about a dark force?" said Tails, speaking up and bravely ignoring his pain.  
"I remember that! D'you think he's being controlled?" said Amy.  
"Possibly. It's the only explanation for his strange behaviour," Tails answered. "And that gives me an idea. Since Knuckles is at his weakest, we could interrogate him and find out whether he really is being possessed or not. If he is, we should be able to find out more about what's going on."  
"Yeah, I'll make him talk after what he did to you," Amy cried fiercely, pummelling her fist into the opposite hand and then proceeding to help Tails up. To their surprise, Sandi interrupted them.  
"I know a way to make you friend talk," she said in her low yet bubbly voice. "And he won't even realise what he's doing." Tails and Amy watched curiously as Sandi took out a silver chain from her skirt pocket. On the chain were about six different shaped pendants, some crystal, some wooden, some metal. Sandi carefully selected a clear white crystal and, unclasping the chain, shook the other five to the ground. "This one'll do fine." She walked over to Knuckles, who was just beginning to wake up.  
"Sandi, what're you doing?" Tails asked in surprise.  
"This is called Dowsing," explained Sandi. "I learnt it when I was very young. Dowsing is the art of hypnotising people by swinging a pendulum in front of their eyes so they enter a trance-like state. Then you can ask them any questions you like and they will answer your questions as truthfully as they can without consciously knowing what they're doing."  
"She really thinks she can do that?" Amy whispered sceptically to Tails.  
Knuckles groaned and slowly tried to get up. His eyelids flickered open. Sandi gently pushed him back down and began swinging the pendulum at eye level.  
"There, relax. Just watch the pendulum," Sandi coaxed. Knuckles soon became enraptured by the pendulum swinging doggedly before him. His eyes followed it's movement, to and fro, to and fro. "You can feel your eyelids closing. You can feel your muscles relaxing. You are drifting off to sleep, peaceful, soothing sleep." Amy had to snigger, it sounded so funny. All the same, Knuckles was soon deeply asleep. Sandi's bizarre method had worked. 'Go on, Amy. Ask him something. He knows you better than me," Sandi whispered to Amy. Amy stood before Knuckles and, feeling a bit foolish, spoke to Knuckles in a loud, clear voice.  
"Knuckles, this is Amy. I am going to ask you a few questions. You must answer me truthfully, got that?" Knuckles mumbled a faint reply. "Good," Amy went on. "Now, why did you attack Tails?"  
"Orders," Knuckles's voice came out mechanically, as though he were a robot.  
"Who gave you these orders?"  
"Master Robotnik. I must obey." ( "He's definitely possessed!" Amy and Tails stated in unison! )  
"Do you know what Dr. Robotnik is planning to do?" Amy persisted.  
"He's arranging for the shipment of a dangerous weapon, the Plasmic Generator, on board a cruiser called the Silverbelle, headed for the Trinity Islands. The ship leaves the docks today, with the Plasmic Generator secretly hidden in the basement."  
"Tell me more about this Plasmic Generator." Amy cautiously knelt down.  
"It is a big weapon, with the capability to increase the power of the Hiatus Orb to such a high frequency that mass populations can be possessed in one go." Knuckles began to struggle, straining his neck as though trying to break free of some invisible force.  
"Stand back! He's breaking out of it," Sandi warned. Amy leapt up from her knees as Knuckles slowly came to. Now at least they were on the right track.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Location - Robotnik's base.  
  
Eggman placed the Hiatus Orb in the allocated space within the heavy machinery. The display screen flickered into life as he tapped away on the keypad. Entering the password and a series of commands, Eggman once again unlocked the powers from within the Hiatus Orb as he said, "Void, show me where my faithful servant lies."  
All of a sudden the screen flashed a bright green, then there appeared a picture, surrounded by swirling mists. There was Knuckles in the picture, just as he had commanded.  
His latest invention had worked! It was a tracking system, which operated when the Hiatus Orb was placed in it. The system was able to track down a specific figure, for example, the zombie-like Knuckles. The screen should display an image of exactly what that character was doing in film-mode. Sound was added as an extra bonus too. Eggman watched as a fox strode over to Knuckles, who was waking up. Was that Tails? No, it was someone else, another fox! There were Tails and Amy waiting not far off as the newcomer knelt down by Knuckles and spoke softly, swinging a pendulum in front of his eyes.  
'What is she doing?' Eggman wondered silently as he watched in puzzlement. The newcomer called Amy over and Amy began to ask Knuckles some questions.  
' "Do you know what Dr. Robotnik is planning to do?" asked Amy.  
"He's arranging for the shipment of a dangerous weapon, the Plasmic Generator...."' Eggman heard all Knuckles's words clearly. He could not believe it. Knuckles was freely giving away top secret information even through the control of the Hiatus Orb! It had to be something that that girl had done.  
"Argh! What does that knucklehead think he's doing?" Eggman raged. Now Tails would know all about the Plasmic Generator on the cruiser and he was bound to ruin Eggman's plans again. Eggman struck his fist down angrily on the keypad. When he glanced at Tails on the screen again, he remembered something very important. Stella had said that she was going to find Tails and destroy him. Eggman now knew where Tails was going to go. Soon Stella would know too, and the two villains would be waiting for Tails when he got to the ship. Little did he know, Tails was about to walk straight into a trap!  
Eggman picked up his walkie-talkie and clicked it on. A few seconds later Stella intercepted the call.  
"Doctor, this is Stella Novacassica, I am heading east across the ocean, approximately four-point-five miles from Trinity Islands. Is there anything you require?" Stella said in one long breath, her sharp, icy voice piercing through the receiver. Eggman chuckled wickedly.  
"Stella, set your co-ordinates for the cruiser, Silverbelle, immediately. Our little 'friend' Tails is also heading in that direction. After all, we want to be there in time to meet him. I'll see you there."  
"Right doctor. I'm on my way." Stella switched off her walkie- talkie, leaving an empty buzzing sound on Eggman's end. Eggman took one last look at the screen before heading towards the flight deck. Tails, Amy and the other girl were walking over to Tails's workshop, where Tails kept all his aircraft inventions. Perfect.  
  
* * * * * 


	6. Ambush!

Location - Above the ocean, midday.  
  
Tail shifted the steering controls fractionally and raised the altitude level. The plane skimmed smoothly through the soft pastel blue sky. Checking the digital lcd clock on the dashboard, Tails was shocked to see that it was midday already. Before they had taken off, Amy and Sandi had taken him to the exploration team's First Aid tent ( which was the reason why he had a huge bandage over his leg, and also why he still had the aftertaste of some foul banana flavoured medicine in his mouth ). Afterwards, Amy and Sandi had forced him to rest, which had slowed down their progress even more. Then, of course, Sandi made Tails relate the whole story so far to her, because she did not have a clue about what was going on. And to top it all off, Amy insisted on doing her hair up properly before they took off. Honestly, girls were such a pain!  
  
Suddenly from behind him Sandi gave a shriek. "Look! There it is, the ship! Down there, look," Sandi pointed excitedly, looking through her binoculars and leaning over the side of the Thunderstorm, Tails's latest aviation model. Only a tiny speck amidst the vast ocean, the cruiser bobbed gently below them.  
  
"Are you sure it's the right ship?" Tails asked. He was too busy piloting to take a closer look.  
  
"Yep. That's it alright. The Silverbelle, directly beneath us."  
  
"Okay," Tails said, swerving the plane around and down. "Hold on back there. It's gonna be a bumpy landing." The Thunderstorm jolted roughly as Tails inflated the air sacs around it. Amy, who had been asleep for most of the journey, woke up, startled, as a spray of water caught her in the face. The plane jolted around a bit more, then finally splashed down in the ocean, sending fountains of salty water out away from the plane in all directions. Thanks to the air sacs, the plane was able to float on the water. It was now more like a dinghy than a plane.  
  
"Eww, my dress is soaking!" Amy grumbled, pulling a face as she flicked away a bit of tattered seaweed. Sandi was too engrossed in watching the fish in the crystal waters below them to care. Tails was trying to steer the Thunderstorm as close as he could to the stern of the ship. He flicked a few of the numerous switches and levers inside the cockpit and a cable with a grappling hook shot out from the front of the Thunderstorm, straight towards the big ship. The hook caught firmly on the edge of a porthole and the water-borne Thunderstorm was towed alongside the vast cruise liner. That was the easy bit. Now they had to get on the ship.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Stella surveyed the scene. Things were going pretty well for her. When the Hiatus Orb was ready to unleash it's full potential, she would be there, she would be ready to seize her chance of total world domination. What a fool that Eggman was to trust her! She could almost laugh out loud with contempt as she thought of Eggman's miserable efforts to take over the world. And his hopeless attempts to get rid of that pesky blue hedgehog and his band of followers. Why, if Stella had been in Eggman's place, she would have rid herself of those vermin ages ago. She would dhow Eggman a thing or two before this was over.  
  
Something caught a signal on her radar tracking system. Glancing out of the cockpit, Stella sighted the ship Silverbelle. Whipping out her binoculars, Stella spied the Thunderstorm, a small dot being pulled along behind the Silverbelle. The three figures on board the Thunderstorm confirmed her of the location of her prey.  
  
Immediately, Stella switched the Neurocopter to underwater mode. To escape attention, she drove the craft as quick as a flash straight down under the water. She approached the floating Thunderstorm like a shark, swift and silent, hidden beneath the waves, ready to jump out on the unsuspecting trio. She prepared the external guns for firing. Mission : ninety nine per cent accomplished.  
  
* * * * *  
  
As soon as Tails had secured and tested the cable, Sandi yelped as though she had been touched by a red hot poker.  
  
"What now, Sandi?" Tails asked, whisking around. Sandi murmured,  
  
"I saw a - a - something dive underwater over there!" Tails and Amy scanned the ocean.  
  
"Can't see anything, Sandi. Must've been your imagination," Amy smirked. She still felt cold towards Sandi after the incident at the Casino the previous night.  
  
"It wasn't! I saw what I saw!" Sandi flashed a dark, angry glare at Amy. Tails intervened once again.  
  
"Leave it, you two...." Tails stopped short of what he was saying as his eyes followed something moving under the water. "Sandi, MOVE!" he cried and he thrust himself at Sandi, pulling her down as a bullet whistled past where her head had been a second ago. Sandi simply stared in amazement as the bullet exploded high up in the air. Amy squealed as another bullet burst at the water surface right next to the air sacs supporting the plane-turned-boat.  
  
"We gotta get off this boat!" Amy said, her voice quavering slightly.  
  
"Amy, you're in for another bumpy ride!" Tails exclaimed as he grabbed Amy around the waist and took to the air using his two tails as propellers. "Come on, Sandi. You too." Sandi put her tails into action and followed Tails up to the deck of the ship. They did not turn around to see what happened to the Thunderstorm.  
  
They slipped silently behind the white wall of the dining room on the ship. Exotic climbing plants cryptically clustered up the wall, tingling the backs of their necks. Around the corner was the built-in swimming pool and sun lounge, with steps leading up to the entrance of the dining room. Smiling, happy families were enjoying a well deserved holiday after the hectic work season; chilling out in deckchairs, laughing and messing about in the pool. Catering staff were running to and fro in their white suits to serve the guests, and sailors on their smart naval uniforms were constantly checking the waters and the general progress of the cruiser. Tails was surprised that no-one had noticed them yet.  
  
"We need to find our way down to the basement," Tails whispered seriously to the girls.  
  
"You say it like it's some sort of hard challenge," Amy snorted in a chuckling mood. "We've been through worse. Finding the basement is gonna be pimps!" A deep voice behind them startled them before they could make another move.  
  
"You kids lost or something?" a steward asked the trio. Being strung up as they were, they all jumped involuntarily. Sandi, the first to recover, had a sudden brainwave.  
  
"Sorry to bother you, sir, but my brother has an injured leg and I've just realised I've left the medicine in our main luggage. I'm sure it's in the cargo area in the basement. Could you tell us the way to the basement?" Sandi asked innocently, putting on a sweet girly face. The bandage round Tails's leg was convincing too.  
  
"Sure, li'l girl. Go down the stairs behind that door over there by the pool, along the corridor and take the elevator to the bottom floor. Then go down another corridor, take the door on the second left and go down another flight of stairs. Then...you're there! It's a bit complicated, d'you want me to come down with you?" the steward said helpfully.  
  
"No, I think we'll manage fine on our own," Sandi replied, flashing another 'cutie-pie' smile and remembering to add a 'thank you' to the end of her speech. She waved at the steward and reeled Amy and Tails towards the door that the steward had indicated. As they walked off, Tails exaggerated his limping to make Sandi's yarn all the more convincing. The steward smiled and then carried on with his duties.  
  
When they were safe behind the door, Tails exhaled.  
  
"You did some smooth talking back there, sis," he complimented.  
  
"We ought to call you 'Sandi the Manipulator'," Amy said sarcastically, recalling the scene with Knuckles and the hypnotic trance Sandi had placed him in.  
  
"Who asked for you opinion?" said Sandi with a challenging tone in her voice. She reached towards her pocket which contained the dowsing pendants and chain. Amy followed every movement.  
  
"Alright, alright. I get the point. Just don't try that dowsa- thingummy on me." Amy threw up her hands in exasperation.  
  
"It's called dowsing," Sandi corrected her matter-of-factly. Tails sighed. It was so typical of those two to get at each other's throats the minute they all got down to something. Using the arm rail to aid his descent, Tails awkwardly followed the bickering pair down the staircase.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Cursing violently, Stella brought the Neurocopter up to the water surface. She had missed them! Now they had all managed to get away without a single injury from her. She felt so gutted. Well, there was no need for anyone else to find out about her failure. The fact remained that her 'prey' was on the Silverbelle, and she had to follow.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Location - Modern Sciences Corporation building.  
  
Dr. Wallis was a cheat and a liar in many ways. He always put himself before others. He had made many allies in the criminal world, and his reputation as a leading scientist was gained through countless blackmails and frauds. Therefore, the instant he 'accidentally' found out about Robotnik's latest plan to conquer the world, he sided with Robotnik and promised to help him on the condition that he would not suffer the same fate as the rest of the population on earth. Sitting up in his lonesome, stuffy office, he sipped coffee and breathed a sigh of relief. He had managed to get the Plasmic Generator on that cruiser no trouble. Robotnik would also be pleased to know that he had retrieved the tripartite device ( with the help of the beetle robots ). The next thing he did was set about strengthening security around the building, in case of any more unwelcome visitors.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Location - In the basement of cruiser Silverbelle.  
  
The huge weapon towered up above them. Tails could only stare in awe.  
  
"So this is the Plasmic Generator you were talking about," exclaimed Sandi. She strode around the machine, examining it.  
  
"There always has to be something involving machines!" Amy groaned in mock despair. Tails thoughtfully peered up at the ominous looking generator. Meanwhile, Sandi had climbed around the side of the generator to the 'cockpit' area.  
  
"Guys, you'd better take a look at this," Sandi called loudly. Anxious to stop Sandi from being so noisy, Tails and Amy clambered up to see what she was on about. Sandi was sitting in a seat, surrounded by a vast semi-circular control panel. At the centre was a metal sheet, which looked like you were meant to place your hands on it.  
  
"And I found this," Sandi whispered. In her hands she held the first Amulet!  
  
"Where'd you find it?" Tails asked.  
  
"Right here." Sandi placed it on the metal sheet briefly, then put it in her pocket.  
  
"What does all this stuff mean?" Amy wondered, raising her eyebrows at the buttons and levers all around her.  
  
"I think I know," Tails began, reaching for the controls. A sharp voice behind him made him freeze.  
  
"Keep your hands away from that thing!" It was Stella. Stepping gracefully out of the shadows as she had done on the day the orb had taken Sonic. With the deadly rifle in hand.  
  
"Uh-oh," murmured Tails. Eggman had just appeared on the scene too, in his 'Egg Walker' machine! Tails leapt off the generator and grabbed a razor edged metal crowbar. Amy and Sandi took up position beside him. A bright light flashed and all around them appeared robots, deadly killing machines that had been lurking in every shadow, unknown to the trio until now. The robots marched forwards, encircling them. There was no hope of escape.  
  
"You're not going to make it out of here alive," Eggman sneered.  
  
"So don't count on it," Stella finished his sentence for him. Tails realised he had been tricked. What he thought was a world rescue mission had turned out to be an ambush! Eggman shot out a warning missile and Stella prepared her rifle.  
  
"Huh. Just you try it!" Tails challenged. He was concentrating on what move the enemy would make next. He was not looking out behind him when a robot grabbed him from behind, holding him fast and knocking the crowbar from his grasp. "Uhh!" Tails choked. Amy was thrown to the side by a second robot. Sandi picked up the discarded metal crowbar and tried to free her brother but they were separated by the robots streaming forth. The robots managed to force them metres apart. Sandi nimbly avoided the robots closing in on her and climbed back on to the Plasmic Generator.  
  
Tails looked wildly from one to the other - Eggman, with the missile cannon, to Stella, with her rifle, back to Eggman again.  
  
"Leave him to me," Stella told Eggman, holding up a hand to stop Eggman releasing a missile. She strode casually towards Tails.  
  
Sandi had reached the top of the generator. So had the robots. Sandi braced herself and swung the crowbar round, knocking back robots here and there, jabbing with the crowbar at their metal frames.  
  
"Come here and fight, you brainless moron! I'm not afraid of a big hulking tin can like you!" Sandi yelled, ramming the metal bar down on an unfortunate robot's head, kickboxing it at the same time. The robot staggered back, electric charges fizzing and crackling around it until it finally collapsed on the ground, becoming merely a pile of battered metal on the floor. But no matter how many robots were put out by the amazing combat skills of Sandi, they just kept coming.  
  
Sandi looked about to see where the others were. There was no sign of Amy. Tails was still trapped, and that woman with the gun was nearing him. Sandi had to get to him before it was too late. Using her two tails to aid her ascension, Sandi leapt up towards the ceiling. She held on to the steel grate above. With a quick swipe of the crowbar, Sandi loosed the nets which had been hanging on the ceiling. The nets tumbled down on top of the robot hordes below. Sandi chuckled. As she was about to jump down again, a low guttural voice stopped her.  
  
"Hold it right there, fox girl!" Eggman said, pointing the cannon atop his Egg Walker at Sandi.  
  
"Not likely," Sandi shot back, somersaulting backwards off the grate and landing on the floor beside the generator. "By the way, the name's Sandi."  
  
"I don't care what your name is. You'd better hand over that amulet now, or else." Eggman lowered the cannon and prepared to fire. Sandi reacted with lightning speed. Before Eggman knew it, the sharp crowbar had left her hands and sliced through the ropes securing another of the nets on the ceiling. The net came tumbling down. Only this time there as a slight difference - the net contained at least two dozen hard iron shot-putt balls! Sandi giggled as Eggman backed off hurriedly, chased by myriads of bumbling, heavy iron balls. That showed him!  
  
Meanwhile, Amy was recovering from her fall in the corner of the basement. Shaking her head woozily, she peered out over the top of a stack of musty wooden crates. The first thing she saw was Sandi, battling her way furiously through the surge of robots on top of the generator. Amy had been there, done that, and she did not envy those robots fighting Sandi. In fact, she felt a little sorry for them. She knew where Sandi was, but where was Tails? Amy crept forwards to see better and that was when she saw Stella, rifle loaded, approaching a robot. Held fast in the grip of the robot was Tails! Sandi would never reach him in time, so it was up to her, Amy, to save her old friend.  
  
Tails yelped as the robot squeezed his wrists tighter. Stella swaggered over triumphantly, taking off her shades with perfect composure.  
  
"I'm not like that fool Dr. Robotnik, y'know. I don't let people go so easily," she snarled, lip curled slightly, looking very fierce and formidable indeed. Tails could not find anything to say. He froze, completely rigid as she brought her face right up close to his, staring him straight in the eye. As she raised the gun, he struggled violently. Stella smirked. "Now, now, there's no point in resisting. Let's settle the conflict, just you and me." She actually smiled. He shuddered. She aimed for her target......  
  
"Not so fast," Amy interrupted, leaping from her cover and drawing out her compact mirror from her pocket. The mirror reflected the light from the grate above, and Amy flashed it in Stella's eyes. Temporarily blinded, Stella dropped the rifle, fumbling for her shades. She roared in anger. Amy pocketed the mirror and snorted. "That'll teach you to stay away from my friends!"  
  
Sandi arrived just in time to knock out the robot that had captured Tails. Tails collapsed on the ground, panting for breath.  
  
"Whew! Thanks, Amy. I owe you one," he gasped.  
  
"Hey, what about me?" Sandi pouted. "I took on that horde of robots single-handed."  
  
"Yeah, whatever," Amy said. "Once again, the spectacular Amy Rose saves the day!" she boasted jokingly, expecting them to laugh. But they did not.  
  
"Amylookouuut!" Tails and Sandi shrieked at the same time. Too late. Stella hit Amy over the head with a plank of wood. Amy fainted immediately. She never even had time to see her attacker. Eggman was now piloting the Neurocopter, and he brought it down low over their heads, letting down a rope ladder which Stella grabbed onto. Eggman blasted a hole in the roof with the weapons on the Neurocopter. They were out of reach now.  
  
"No! You can't do that!" Tails yelled as he helplessly watched Stella drag Amy's limp form up into the air. Amy was now in the clutches of the enemy.  
  
Something hard hit Tails on the nape of the neck. He dropped down. His vision turned all hazy, then he remembered nothing more as he plunged into darkness.  
  
End of Part Two  
  
* * * * * 


	7. The Rebel Fairy

Part Three : Location - The Fairy Temple, Loren's world.  
  
"There. Everything's set, Loren," Mara told her friend as they stood at the front of the power source in the Temple. "Just, be careful." Mara was concerned for Loren, who was about to undergo a very dangerous procedure. Mara had spent ages setting everything up with her magic, taking longer than she should have done. It couldn't be helped. Everything had to be perfect, after all, changing a fairy into a human was a very tricky business!  
  
"Mara, I'll be fine," Loren groaned for the millionth time. She stepped gracefully forward onto a hazy glass platform, three quarters surrounded by misty vapour walls. "You worry too much. But before I go, promise me one last thing." Loren handed Mara the letter she had written earlier. It was addressed To the Supreme Chancellor. "Please make sure this letter is delivered after I'm gone." Mara looked dubiously at the letter, then placed it in her long silken pockets. She opened the hatch of the power resistor. If everything went according to plan, all the energy from the power source should flow along the channels into the containment tank above the platform, and enter into Loren's body through cables attached to the tank, then the transformation would begin. Mara's role was to use her powers to steady the flow of energy, to regulate it and make sure it did not exceed it's limit. If the tank overheated......Loren would probably not make it out alive.  
  
"Are you sure you're up for this, Loren? It'll take over the average time to get to the Other Side if you do manage to make the change, and that means spending a lot of time in The Black Region." The Black Region was the dark, blank space in between the worlds, known to Tails as the Void,, the vacuum monstrosity that the Hiatus Orb had the ability to unleash.  
  
"Look, all I'm asking is for you to use your power to help me make the change. If you don't wanna help me, that's fine, but I'll find it a lot more difficult to do it alone." Loren looked sternly at Mara, strapping the cables above her to her arms, neck and ankles.  
  
Mara laughed.  
  
"I suppose there's no stopping you! Okay, get ready.....one, two, THREE!" Mara unlocked the resistor and the whole of the power source in the Fairy Temple began to course freely through the channel pipes and into the tank, where it gathered and built up energy, before shooting the lot into Loren. Loren flinched at the initial contact, but soon regained her self- control and stood serenely as an eerie golden light washed over her. Mara steadied the energy flow whilst setting the controls around her to channel the right frequency so that the right transformation was made. Loren began to transform and the whole room was filled with brilliant golden sparks.  
  
Suddenly the pipes began to fizz and splutter, black smoke puffed out in thick chunks from them. Uh oh, though Mara. That could only mean one thing. The power source was completely drained, all the energy having gone into the tank. There was too much energy in the tank now, far too much for Mara to control. If she did not steady it, Loren would die.  
  
"Loren! I can't hold it any longer!" Mara cried, straining to maintain the force-fields of fairy energy she had set up. Loren had reached the half-human stage, and when she saw her friend struggling to control the energy that had been unleashed, Loren slammed shut the sliding glass door around the platform, severing the connection between her and Mara.  
  
Mara dropped back, exhausted. When she had regained her breath, she looked up and saw that Loren had set up a barrier between them. Now Mara could not reach Loren to help her!  
  
Mara got to her feet shakily. Loren could hardly be seen because of the golden sparkles around her. Mara could not do anything else, for the door behind her burst open and in trooped a group of Regiment Guards. Just in time, Loren made the change and slipped over into the Black Region. The guards surrounded Mara and marched her out of the Temple. Scared as she was, Mara could not help rejoicing. Loren had managed to make herself human! Hopefully she would make it through to the Other Side.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Location - Karmen Island, at the centre of the stronghold.  
  
Groping around in the dark confines of the cell, Amy struggled up, holding on to the thick iron bars for support. She instantly collapsed to the ground again with fatigue. Never before in her life had she been so tired as she was now. Even though her eyes were open, she was still half asleep.  
  
Suddenly lights flickered on all around her. Having been accustomed to the dark for so long, Amy immediately scrunched up her eyes and shaded her face from the sudden brightness.  
  
"What the...." Amy groaned, dazed by the light. She shuffled backwards, her head buzzing. She felt extremely woozy.  
  
"Ah, I see our little 'guest' has finally woken up," drawled a sharp, icy voice that made Amy's blood run cold. Squinting under the glare of the intense lighting, Amy looked up and saw the woman who had ambushed Tails, Sandi and she on the cruiser. The same woman who had so very nearly killed Tails.  
  
"But - wh-where are we?" stammered Amy. "What is this place?" Now that she could see her surroundings better, she began to get a bit scared.  
  
"Well, if you must know, we are in a secret underground stronghold on a remote island far away from any human civilisation, called Karmen Island. There's no need to be afraid. I'm sure your friend Tails will come to see you sometime soon."  
  
"You mean.....I'm a hostage?" Amy spluttered. She was wide awake now. In anger and frustration, she kicked at the wall then thrust her weight against the solid bars separating her from the sinister woman. In a flash, the woman drew a weapon and shot a tranquilliser dart into Amy's arm.  
  
"AAA!" Amy shrieked, yanking out the dart from her arm. The effect was instantaneous, and Amy dropped to the ground feeling incredibly weak as the tranquillising chemicals swept through her body. Gasping with shock and weakness, she clutched at her left arm where the dart had pierced it. It was swollen and painful.  
  
"Calm down, little missy. You've already had enough of that sleeping serum to last a lifetime." The woman took a puff of her cigarette and slid down the wall until she was sitting down, her back to the wall so that she was facing Amy.  
  
"You...can't...do..this...to me," Amy pronounced through gritted teeth. The woman draped her arms casually across her knees, playing about with her cigarette before saying;  
  
"Oh, I can alright. But - that's not why I wanted to talk to you. I don't think I've introduced myself. I'm Stella Novacassica." Amy folded her arms and snorted in reply. "I already know who you are, Amy. Just tell me this - are you sure you're fighting on the right side?"  
  
"What d'you mean?" Amy gaped.  
  
"You mean Tails hasn't told you?" Stella looked shocked. "Dear girl, there's something you...ought to know about Tails. You see, he is in possession of one of these Amulets of Hiatus. I know, because I was there. I saw Sonic give it to him," Stella said, craftily manipulating the events she had seen the night the Orb had taken Sonic.  
  
"But, what's so important about that?" asked Amy in puzzlement. She had the feeling that Stella was trying to lead her into a trap.  
  
"Can't you see? Even your friend Knuckles knew he was the enemy."  
  
"Knuckles was possessed. He didn't realise what he was doing," said Amy defiantly.  
  
"This might change your mind," Stella said, unrolling a blueprint for a killer weapon. Amy gasped. "When those beetle robots broke into Tails's flat, they uncovered this. A modification of the Plasmic Generator, designed by M.T.Prower. It only operates when one of the amulets is placed inside it. Take a good look. It's an original." Stella showed the blueprint to Amy nonchalantly. "Now do you believe me?"  
  
"Why should I believe anything you say?" Amu burst out vehemently.  
  
"Hmph. What else do you think he does in that workshop of his? Remember, your friend is a very gifted young mechanic. I don't think anyone would be willing to waste such a talent in saving the world when the world could be theirs to own," Stella said slyly, flashing her venomous smile as she tucked the now rolled-up blueprints under one arm. Amy was dumbfounded. Did Stella really expect her to believe a lie like that?  
  
"It's not true!" Amy said stubbornly. This 'Stella' person was beginning to annoy her.  
  
"Well, I can't say I didn't try telling you the truth," said Stella. "You do realise there's a reason why you're here. Tails wants those amulets just as much as Dr. Robotnik and I. We can't let Tails get the better of us, can we? Can't let him beat us to it. So we're gonna need some information. And you're giving it to us."  
  
"No way! You might as well talk to a brick wall, 'cos I'm not telling you anything."  
  
"Argh, you aggravate me, little missy. When you come round to my way of thinking, you'll want to tell me everything." Stella leapt silently to her feet and purposefully crushed her cigarette to the ground with her boot. "Until then, I'm afraid I'll have to leave you in the dark again." She strode out of the door, switching off the lights and securely locking the door behind her. Amy was left all alone again.  
  
* * * * * 


	8. Saving Amy

* * * * *  
  
Location - Somewhere in the ocean.  
  
A sudden splash of cold water on his face woke Tails up instantly. He spluttered and coughed, flicking away drops of water as he sat up. He was in the Thunderstorm, in the middle of the ocean; the cruiser was nowhere in sight, and Sandi had just chucked a bucket of water over him.  
  
"Sandi! What did you do that for?" Tails asked, annoyed.  
  
"Cos you were unconscious, stupid. The whole roof began to cave in after Eggman blasted it. You got hit by the debris. I got you back onto the Thunderstorm before anyone found us down there."  
  
"Where's the ship?" asked Tails, who was still trying to recall what had happened mere hours ago.  
  
"Oh, honestly, I couldn't keep the Thunderstorm trailing along behind it. Don't you think it'd raise a bit of suspicion? Wake up, Tails!" Sandi chuckled.  
  
"Oh! Uh....yeah....." Tails murmured.  
  
'Shouldn't we go and rescue that Amy girl?" Sandi queried with more than a slight hint in her tone of voice.  
  
"And how are we meant to do that? We're in the middle of nowhere!" Tails complained.  
  
"I'm not the one who knows how to fly this thing," Sandi stated, gesturing at the cockpit of the Thunderstorm. Tails had forgotten that they were in a plane, and that he was a pilot. He still felt weird. Before he scrambled into the cockpit he leaned over the side and splashed some more water on his face.  
  
"Right. All systems - go!" Tails winked at his sister and they began to take off. The Thunderstorm was still in boat mode as Tails was explaining to Sandi the tracking system of the craft. "So the radio waves emitted from Stella's aircraft should be picked up by this aerial, and we can track 'em down - ," then Tails was interrupted by Sandi.  
  
"Rocks up ahead!" Sandi screamed. Tails turned around and saw dozens of menacing, craggy boulders cropping up from the waters. They were heading full speed towards the rocks! Tails held down the lever that switched the Thunderstorm into flying mode. It would not budge. "Come on, Tails..." Sandi yelled louder. The rocks were coming closer at electrifying speed.  
  
"I'm trying. The system's jammed!" Tail shouted back. He frantically flicked switches and fiddled about with buttons and keypads, trying to unlock the flying mechanism. The rocks were only a few metres away now. They would not make it in time....  
  
"Gotcha!" Tails unlocked the system and the engine burst into action as the air sacs deflated and folded away neatly beneath the plane. Tails yanked down on the steering controls.  
  
"Whaaaa!" Sandi and Tails screamed as the plane swerved vertically and missed the rocks, passing within millimetres of certain death. The Thunderstorm was now airborne.  
  
"Whew! Talk about exciting." Sandi breathed.  
  
"And that was only the usual," Tails commented, recalling the wild flight with Sonic at the beginning of the adventure.  
  
"The 'usual'? That was 'usual'?" Sandi was gobsmacked. Tails could tell it would take Sandi a long time to adjust to his lifestyle. He powered up the Rocket Engine, one of the many extra features of the Thunderstorm, and the plane zoomed off into the distance.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Location - Amy's prison cell, Karmen Island.  
  
Amy stared blankly up at her cell roof. Her eyes had now grown accustomed to the continual darkness. As far as she could see, the cell was only about as big as the average garden shed. It was made of impenetrable concrete and thick iron bars crossed the front from ceiling to ground. Escape was practically impossible.  
  
She as extremely annoyed at the fact that Stella had drugged her while she slept - who knows how many dangerous chemicals had infiltrated her body? She could have been asleep for hours, days, without even knowing! How long now until the end of the world? How was she to know how much time Tails and she had left? How was she going to get back to Tails? This was bad. Very bad. For a minute, Amy wished she had never been involved in this adventure. Oh, if only Sonic was here to save her now.  
  
The conversation she had with Stella earlier was constantly bugging her. Amy knew that Stella was trying to trick her, to turn her against Tails. She knew Tails was not a traitor. Even so, one side of her could not help wondering about those blueprints Stella had shown her. Blueprints can't be faked, can they? The other side of her argued ; No, those blueprints MUST be fake! And yet....  
  
Amy shook the unpleasant thoughts out of her head. She was too weak to move, thanks to the tranquillisers she had been given. She would just have to wait for help to come.  
  
A key turned in the lock. Slowly the door creaked open.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Location - Somewhere above the ocean.  
  
Tails was tired and hungry. It was two o'clock now and the tracking system had not made so much as a single bleep. Sandi had managed to steal some prawn sandwiches whilst escaping from the cruiser basement - but those were long gone now. The sandwiches were all he had eaten that day. Tails's stomach grumbled as he thought of food. Sandi was probably thinking the same, he decided, she was oddly quiet, vacantly staring into the distance. Lost in her own thoughts. Tails shifted uncomfortably in his seat. The sun had been beating down on them for the past hour and he felt terribly hot and sticky. If he had been in his normal state of mind, he would have driven the plane down into the crystal waters below to cool himself down. But right now food was uppermost in his mind. Not even the knowledge that the world could end tomorrow would get his mind off food.  
  
* * * * *  
  
"Tails! Tails...." Someone was whispering. Someone was near him, but he could not quite see....reach....  
  
Tails opened an eye. Pink, swirling vapours surrounded him. The haze, the mistiness, it was something he had felt somewhere before. He tried to trace back his thoughts but his mind fell thick and heavy, almost clogged up as the vapour penetrated his soul.  
  
For no reason at all, he felt fear. A cold wave of dread suddenly swept through him. He could sense something odd that had not been in this place before. A tint of darkness, slowly infiltrating the cotton-candy pink clouds. This numb darkness he was aware of completely, and it chilled him to the bone.  
  
"Tails..." That voice again. It was fading.  
  
Tails stumbled forward, searching, reaching forth.  
  
He withdrew. The darkness was spreading.  
  
"Tails...understand... The darkness...is..." Tails was losing connection with the voice. He felt out of control. The darkness stretched out, towards him....one, cold, icy touch upon his arm. He felt the weirdest sensation of falling. The cold, oh so cold....  
  
* * * * *  
  
Location - Karmen Island Stronghold.  
  
"Amy, tell me," said Stella. "This new technology of Tails's. Where can I find it?" Amy's head spun. She couldn't think properly.  
  
"I don't.....know what you're talking about," she answered, casting her eyes downwards as she felt her veins pulsing still from the electricity that had been fed into her.  
  
"Oh, isn't that a pity. I would have thought you'd had enough of the shock treatment by now." Stella laid a hand gently over a bright red button on the panel beside her. With that light touch, a small shockwave of electricity passed through to the chair at which Amy sat. Amy shuddered as it buzzed through her.  
  
"I don't know what you're on about!" Amy half-shouted, bitter tears of resentment spilling from her cheeks. The metal wrist-pads that held her to the seat were biting into her wrists. She slowly lifted her head and through the glass barrier in front of her she saw Stella, lounging upon a comfortable chair with perfect ease, taking no note of Amy's pain. Amy hated her. She hated the way she did everything so coolly and unemotionally, she hated the way she could inflict pain without remorse. Amy had not lost her obstinacy yet. Indignantly, she glared at Stella. It seemed to be the best thing she could do. And those icy, obsidian eyes glared levelly back. There was murder in those eyes.  
  
"You do know." Stella turned on the wide screen behind her and an image of Eggman appeared on it. He was talking live from his base.  
  
"Amy, my little friend. I hope you are feeling well." Amy grunted. "I'd just like to tell you how pleased I am to be doing business with you. Now, I've heard that Tails has developed a new technology. A coding program for a virus that can tap into any high-security computer system. A program that can break down passwords and Internet barriers. It gives total access to everything. I need that program. No doubt Tails has told you about it, has he not? One of his closest friends...hmm, you must have some idea where he keeps it. You have to tell me." As he spoke, Amy looked at his surroundings. She saw the lava bubbling in the pit behind him, she saw the red rock of the walls behind him. And more importantly was the camera info in the corner of the screen :  
  
'04:31:58 pm AUGUST, SHINOLOU VOLCANO BASE'  
  
"Now are you gonna co-operate, or do ya need a little more... persuasion?" Stella drawled unpassionately. She raised her hand high above the red button in warning. Amy trembled.  
  
"No....I-I-don't know...anything. Tails never told me," Amy said. Stella's face was getting redder as her patience slowed down. Amy thought of something then. A little room at the back of Tails's workshop...a computer programming unit...a red file that lay in the cabinet beside it... Amy knew what was in that file. Tails had shown her, before they took off from the Mystic Ruins. She could still remember his words; "This thing can help the government track down any illegal operations, it can open any system. It could help stop crime, just think how amazing that would be..."  
  
Tails never let anyone inside that room except for people he knew he could trust. No, she could not say anything. For Tails's sake.  
  
"I can't tell you," she blurted out. She had meant to say nothing, but as she pictured that little back room in Tails's workshop, the words just slipped out.  
  
That one slip was all Stella required to lose her patience completely. Her face twisted with fury and she slammed the palm of her hand down on the red button as hard as she could. A gigantic surge of electricity crackled through the metal wrist-pads and into Amy. Amy screamed loudly as the electricity contorted her muscles and nerves. A few seconds later she fainted. For a moment, Stella thought she had killed her, but the misty condensation appearing on the glass in front of Amy's mouth told Stella otherwise. Stella stood up and looked at Eggman on the screen.  
  
"Too bad," she commented.  
  
"Better luck next time." The evil doctor chuckled at Amy's limp, pathetic figure before cutting contact from Stella.  
  
* * * * * 


	9. Saving Amy II

Location - Somewhere above the ocean.  
  
"Huh?" Tails jolted awake. What on earth is happening to me? he wondered. He felt so cold, and despite the warm sun on his back, he shivered. All thoughts of food were forgotten.  
  
The voice he had heard was familiar, and the pink place too. Suddenly he knew. The dream he had on the night Sonic disappeared was exactly the same. And Loren had been in it....so maybe that was Loren who had just tried to communicate with him. She had been trying to tell him something about the darkness. Something that had seemed so important.  
  
The plane dipped down dangerously and Tails grabbed the steering controls in a flurry. How stupid! He had nearly forgotten about the plane!  
  
"Sorry...... Turbulence," he called to Sandi. He did not want her to know that his 'daydream' could have killed both of them.  
  
"Hey, Tails," Sandi said lazily, snapping out of her own personal reverie. "I've just been thinking..."  
  
"Mmm?" Tails murmured, keeping a tight focus on piloting now.  
  
"I'm glad you believed me...when I said I was your sister," Sandi said quietly. "I was so afraid you wouldn't believe me, and I'd wanted so badly to see you again. I mean, what if you thought I was on Eggman's side or something? What if you thought I just wanted to tag along?" Sandi looked tearful for a moment as she let her emotions get the better of her.  
  
"Sandi, you're my sister. You always will be, and that's never going to change." Tails said assertively.  
  
"But - how can you know for sure? I don't even have any proof..." Sandi trailed off miserably. Tails let the plane hover as he turned to face Sandi.  
  
"You're the only other fox I know with two tails." Tails smiled. He looked her in the eye. "And there's more than just that. I know you're my sister. I don't know how I know, I just do," he whispered. The air had gone all quiet. Then Sandi smiled too.  
  
"I want to fight beside you, and help you," she told him. Tails hugged her.  
  
"Welcome, Sandi. You're part of the team," he said brightly. The mood in the little plane went from pensive silence to cheerful warmth in a matter of seconds.  
  
"Hey, wanna know ho I found you?" Sandi asked.  
  
"Go on."  
  
"I was always working in some sort of casino, or disco, or club of some kind. There was this one job I got two months ago in a tavern over the other side of Station Square. It was quite a good job, so I stayed on for a while. About two weeks ago I overheard two people talking about this Sonic guy and his friend, a fox with two tails, who saved the world from being blown up by some space missile."  
  
"I remember that," Tails murmured, recalling the Eclipse Cannon catastrophe.  
  
"They said you lived in Station Square when I asked them for more details. So I packed up and went to work in the Casino in Station Square." Sandi paused and looked over Tails's shoulder.  
  
"Um, the ...little green light is..bleeping."  
  
"Oh! The plane!" Tails exclaimed. He turned to face the cockpit. The tracking system had located something. "Yup, it looks like Stella's plane landed on that island down there. Karmen Island, I think. Let's go." All Sandi felt was an intense gust of air in her face as Tails took the plane into a steep dive towards the island. Her breath caught in her throat as they hurtled down and stopped, one metre above the ground, right at the last minute. Tails gently let it down to the ground. Karmen Island. They were there now.  
  
They soon found out that Karmen Island was actually a secret underground stronghold. The entire surface of the island was covered in shrubs and dense vegetation. But secret doorways opened up vast underground passages that led to a central stronghold deep underground, teeming with robots and security monitors. Like a private government or military base, it seemed almost impassable.  
  
Tails was definitely going to find it easy to break into.  
  
It was by pure luck that they found the entrance to one such passage. After they had landed, Sandi quite literally stumbled across it. In truth, she fell a good few feet into it. The wooden trapdoor entrance had rotted away and crumbled over the years. It made Tails wonder how long ago this stronghold was set up.  
  
Sandi silently followed Tails as he navigated down the dimly lit, metal corridors. She did not need to ask where he was heading, she figured he would try and reach some sort of control room before finding Amy. As they slipped between the shadows avoiding unblinking security cameras and odd little robots that scuttled about like crabs, Sandi became more and more certain of how the plan would work.  
  
Minutes later, they entered a cleaner, more technologically sophisticated area. The security was intensifying the deeper and further in they went. Tails stopped on the corner of a corridor and peered round.  
  
"That's the room we're looking for...there." He pointed it out from the shadows. Sandi looked. It was the door to the master computer, the thing that set all the programs for maintenance of the stronghold ( it said so on the door).  
  
"Why don't we just walk straight up there and bash through? I mean, it's not going to matter if security spots us, 'cos you're just going to shut down the system anyway." Sandi said.  
  
"How'd you know I was going to do that?" Tails murmured with amusement.  
  
"I'm adapting," Sandi said with a wink.  
  
They went over to the door. It was made of metal, so tail force would not do as it had done in the M.S.C building. But there was a glass window. Tails picked up one of the scuttling robots and bashed it through the glass. He then scrambled through with Sandi right behind.  
  
"I'm finding Amy, right?" Sandi asked.  
  
"Yup. I need to be here in case anything goes wrong," Tails affirmed. Sandi waited patiently as Tails played about with the stronghold's electricity system. He knelt in front of a tall, refrigerator- shaped unit that was covered with wires and switches that controlled everything electrical in the stronghold. Sandi left him to it with a silent reverence quite different from Amy's boisterous impatience. She began looking around the room, out of curiosity. Behind a closed cupboard door she found a rack of guns. Since she was the one who was going to find Amy, she armed herself well.  
  
"When do I go?" Sandi said after a while. Tails switched round one last wire and pulled down on a lever. Suddenly all the lights switched off and the luminous green LCD displays on the unit turned blank.  
  
"Now," said Tails.  
  
Sandi blasted the door open with the gun she had 'borrowed'. She was not going to climb through that window again. Then she vanished from the doorway, leaving Tails to his world of computers and technology.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Amy lay close to tears in her minuscule, unbearable cell. The electric shock method had not rubbed off too well on her. Right now she would give anything to get back at Stella. Too much energy had been sapped out of her; she was even starting to believe the things Stella was telling her. Tails, where are you? she called silently in her mind, a mere prayer in the darkness.  
  
She heard the handle on the door rattle. Pause. The door rattled again. Looks like Stella forgot the key, Amy thought with relief. Suddenly something hit the door with terrifying force and smashed it to bits. Amy's heart skipped a beat. She looked up at the shadowy figure in the doorway.  
  
"Amy! It's me, Sandi. I've come to rescue you. Hellooo?" came Sandi's singsong voice. Amy nearly fainted, and this time it was not because she as exhausted! Someone had really and truly come to rescue her and she could not believe her luck, even if it was someone as intolerable as Sandi.  
  
"Sandi...over here..." Amy gasped, the words coming out harsh and dry. Sandi discarded the gun - still smoking from the blast - went into the room and soon released Amy from her cramped prison. She pulled Amy to her feet, ready to make a run for it, but Amy crumpled to the ground. Sandi was surprised to see how weak she was.  
  
"What happened to you?" Sandi said, helping her gently to her feet again.  
  
"Don't...wanna...talk now.... Escape," Amy said feebly. She staggered out of the dark, dank cell with Sandi at her side. They were halfway back to the control room where Tails was, when Sandi nipped into a storage room to pick up a healthy supply of food.  
  
They got back to Tails and rested a while, eating the crisps and sausage rolls that Sandi had got for them. Amy told her side of the story ( accompanied by many gasps of shock and revulsion on Tails and Sandi's part ) then Tails explained what they were going to do next.  
  
"The electricity can't be turned off forever. It's got an automatic timed backup, so we haven't got long before the electricity is able to be turned on again. We have to get to the lift on the flight deck, it should get us out of here." Tails explained, checking a series of large maps he had fished out from one of the long shelves in the room.  
  
"Right. Everyone ready?" said Sandi. Amy and Tails nodded. Sandi stood up. "Let's bust outta here!"  
  
* * * * *  
  
Stella lay back in her soft black leather seat. She glanced briefly at the screen in front of her, which displayed the security cameras from all over the stronghold. The frequent talks with her prisoner were not yielding any information as of yet, but she was sure that Amy's spirit was failing. Sooner or later Stella would know everything.  
  
She swivelled her chair round to her computer to check up on e-mail. Sifting through the various contents of her inbox, she discovered that the ship incident had been cleared up thanks to Dr. Wallis, and Eggman was now in possession of the Plasmic Generator. Eggman also informed her that Knuckles was still under the control of the Orb and was on his way to Eggman's base. Like she needed to know that! The red spiky furball was as annoying as that pesky fox. Knuckles had caused enough mischief already, telling Tails the location of the Plasmic Generator. She did not know why Eggman bothered keeping him around.  
  
A beeping sound distracted her from the computer. Turning around again to face the screen, she noticed that one section had gone fuzzy and grey. A small red button underneath it was pulsing. One of the security cameras was down! That was strange. They had just been re-installed that morning. As she sat there staring at the blank window, another camera switched off. And another, and another - until finally the entire screen which had once been so full of colour was now grey and fuzzy. She shook her head. Maybe the system was not compatible, after all the cameras had only been put up that day.  
  
A little robot carrying a mug of steaming coffee zoomed into the room, the automatic doors hissing shut behind it. Stella almost smiled. These little robots were handy. Eggman could make a fortune of them if he was a decent, honest scientist.  
  
Stella took the mug from the metallic, lifeless creature and had barely lifted it to her lips when the robot began shaking and spluttering. The 'arm' that had handed her the coffee jittered and Stella glimpsed a shockwave of current running through it before it hung limp. Then the entire thing shut down.  
  
Stella blinked. First the CCTV cameras, now the robot; there was definitely something wrong with the electrical system and she had a feeling she knew what - or who - was causing it. But no, it couldn't be! The irritating fox boy could not have come here so fast....it was impossible on that puny aeroplane of his.  
  
She bashed the mug of untouched coffee down on the worktop in front of her and stood up, ready to investigate. As she strode out of the room, her computer also decided to switch off, and the automatic doors did not bother to close behind her. This game was starting to annoy her.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Five minutes later Tails, Amy and Sandi were still on their way to the flight deck. They came to another door and Tails picked up one of the robots, ready to smash it through the glass as before. When he walked over to the door it simply hissed open automatically for him. He dropped the robot.  
  
"The electricity's working again," he murmured.  
  
"Oh good. Can we put the lights on then? I hate this place, and it's even worse in the dark." Amy said.  
  
"No. It would attract attention," Tails told her. "We're there now anyway." And they walked through the door into the flight deck.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Stella turned the corner into the flight deck. To her surprise, and severe annoyance, she saw Tails and Sandi helping Amy into the elevator that would take them to the surface of the island.  
  
"YOU!!!" she snarled at Tails. Tails whisked round. From the expression on his face it was clear that Stella was not the only one who was shocked.  
  
"Stella. So we meet again." Tails said boldly, covering up his shock. Sandi came and stood next to him. Amy did her best to stand round the other side.  
  
"You and your girlfriend come here thinking you can make a fool of me? Think again," Stella snapped. She felt gutted that they had managed to get so far before she had found them. It had put her in a stormy mood. Even without her gun she looked as ruthless as a tigress.  
  
Tails had also noticed the absence of her gun. It seemed to calm him a little, which Stella noted angrily.  
  
"Sandi's not my girlfriend, she's my sister. And I'm not here to make a fool of you. In case you forgot, you kidnapped Amy. You hurt her!" What had started off as a calm and collected sentence had now gotten Tails boiling with rage. "I've come to get her back and get her away from you!"  
  
"Yeah, you stupid PUMPKIN!" Sandi shouted too. Tails looked at her quizzically for a second. Then he carried on.  
  
"We're leaving now," he announced. He turned and began to walk away. Sandi hesitated.  
  
"Tails...." But her anxious warning came a second too late. Stella had reached the remote control door lock and turned it on. The doors all around them - including the elevator door - hissed shut. All escape routes were blocked off. Tails had not anticipated this.  
  
"No-one's leaving yet," said Stella. She drew out a knife from inside her jacket. Sandi adopted her natural fighting stance. Tails looked around the dark flight deck. Sure, Stella had trapped them, but it was three against one. Or two against one, not counting Amy.  
  
Sandi made the first move. She leapt up into the air and aimed a sidekick at Stella. Stella flashed the knife in front of her and Sandi transformed the kick into a hook kick, catching the sole of her foot against the flat edge of the knife. The knife buckled, and nearly snapped. Stella yanked it back and punched Sandi's stomach viciously with her free hand.  
  
Tails ran up to one of the helicopters in the flight deck. Perhaps there would be some weapons in there, or so he was hoping. He was in luck. Picking up a pistol, he turned back to Sandi and Stella, who were battling furiously. Of course he was not actually going to use the pistol, but it gave him an advantage over Stella.  
  
Tails was just about to cock the gun when Stella swung Sandi into him, knocking the gun from out of his grasp. He slammed into the helicopter behind him, the one he had found the gun in, and it toppled over. Tails lay breathless against it for a second, long enough for Stella to see him. She hurled the knife in a flash and it landed a millimetre from his face. Tails's eyes widened in shock. He turned to the side and hid behind the helicopter wreckage. Stella bounded forward to retrieve the knife. At that moment, Sandi struck again. Stella lashed out wildly with the knife, cutting just above Sandi's left eye. Sandi wiped away a trickle of blood and Stella took that opportunity to send her sprawling.  
  
Tails ran along behind the helicopters and aeroplanes until he reached the end of the row. He looked for the gun he had dropped, but could not see it. Then he saw that Stella had the knife again and Sandi was on the ground. He raced towards them.  
  
"Leave Sandi alone!" Tails yelled. He stood between Sandi and Stella. Stella swiped the knife at him. He jumped back and it missed his chest by inches.  
  
"I've had enough of you 'caring and sharing' nonsense," spat Stella as Sandi struggled up. "You're too young to see it, but the world is a tough place. So get used to it." Tails clenched his jaw at this. He dodged another knife strike and helped Sandi to stand. He was scrambling backwards with the injured Sandi, trying to get her away from Stella when his back hit the wall. Cornered. By Stella. Again.  
  
Amy had been watching from beside the elevator up until now. She had not thought there was much she could do. Then she spied the gun that Tails had dropped. It was only a few metres away from her. A thought sprung into her head like lightning. And Stella was focussed on Tails, so she would not notice until it was too late, just like in the basement of the cruiser. But...Amy was still extremely weak. Stuff weakness, she thought. Watch out Stella, 'cos HERE...I... COME!  
  
Stella had barely taken a step towards Tails and Sandi when a small pink shape came hurtling towards her, landing on her shoulders and clinging on to her neck. Stella felt cold metal being pressed against her temple, and it was her turn to be scared.  
  
"Drop the knife," Amy ordered. She held the gun firmly in her hands, ready to fire. For perhaps the first time, fear washed over Stella. She realised that it would not be so hard for Amy to pull that trigger, after what Stella had done to her. Now it was stalemate. Drop the knife or die. Either way, they won. She let the knife clatter to the floor. "Tails - the doors," Amy called to Tails. A small grin had slowly been spreading over his face as he watched the little hedgehog overpower Stella. He had to fight to keep from bursting out laughing as he went over to the door lock.  
  
Once Tails had unlocked the doors, he helped Sandi into the elevator. Amy did not attempt to move off Stella's back.  
  
"Go on. In the elevator," she said. Another nudge of the gun against her head and Stella unwillingly did as she was told. Tails ran back over to the door lock mechanism and did something which triggered off a countdown. The others watched in bewilderment. Tails rushed back to the elevator.  
  
"C'mon, quick, GO!" he yelled as he pulled close the elevator doors behind him. Sandi set the elevator to the highest floor, presumably the surface of the island. She did not ask what Tails had done, she just knew that they had to get out of there fast.  
  
They reached the top and tumbled out just as the countdown reached zero. The door to the elevator clamped shut and a far-off, muffled BOOM came from deep down beneath them. The ground shook a little, then all was still.  
  
"What...have...you...done?" said Stella through clenched teeth, trembling with anger.  
  
"Oh, nothing much. I just blew up the base and locked all the entrances," Tails said, as though it was no big deal. Now Stella was absolutely bursting with fury.  
  
"You...you b-,"  
  
'Watch your language," Amy quipped, reminding Stella that while she still had the gun, she had the upper hand.  
  
"I'll go get the Thunderstorm." Tails chuckled and disappeared amongst the foliage.  
  
Five minutes later they heard a soft chugging sound and Tails appeared above the treetops in his plane. He brought it to light beside them. Sandi clambered in, then Tails began the take-off. Amy whispered to Stella, "Thanks for co-operating," before she leapt onto the Thunderstorm and was hauled to safety by Sandi.  
  
Locked out of her own stronghold, defenceless and livid with rage, Stella could only watch as they zoomed into the distance. Outsmarted by a hedgehog! She could have cried with humiliation.  
  
* * * * * 


	10. Sonic Takes Charge

Location - West of Shinolou Volcano, Trinity Islands.  
  
Rouge flew above the land and sea, hidden amongst the clouds that hung in the sky like puffs of cotton candy. In her hand she held the Third Amulet. She was on her way to Robotnik's base to hand over the amulet in exchange for treasure.  
  
Another day, another job. Rouge was turning into a bit of a mercenary. Well, as long as the pay was okay then that was good enough for her.  
  
There was only one thing that really troubled her. It had been nagging at the back of her mind since she left Knuckles on Angel Island the previous day. Why had she gone to visit him? She herself did not understand. Surely it had all just been an act to get him to work for her and save her the trouble of finding the amulets. But there was still a feeling that she could not shake away. How she wanted to tell Knuckles what she really felt for him, how she wanted to throw away her 'fake' life of lies. She wanted to show him that there was more to her than he thought. Could she be....in love?  
  
Yuck! She pushed the thought away. No way! There are far more important things I could be doing than chasing after some knucklehead that doesn't care a bit about me.  
  
The volcano was in sight now. Rouge dived down towards the island swiftly to avoid attention. She went to the secret entrance and breathed on a metal pad. After he DNA had been identified, the secret door slid open and Rouge walked in.  
  
"Dr. Eggman," she called, standing in the wide red-walled hallway. "I have something for you." She held up the amulet on it's thin golden cord. Seconds later, a voice boomed out over the black loudspeakers that hung down the corridors.  
  
"Welcome, Rouge. I see you have found the amulet I require. Come, meet me in my office. Fifteenth floor down, just take the elevator. Then you can claim your prize." Rouge felt a little uncomfortable with the security cameras hooked up everywhere, and with Eggman's voice barking out instructions all around her. No thief liked being under close surveillance.  
  
She reached Eggman's office quickly. The door opened for her and closed abruptly as soon as she was inside.  
  
"Rouge. So nice to see you," said Eggman. He held out a hand, but Rouge ignored it.  
  
"Well, I got what you wanted. But I don't seem to see any treasure anywhere," Rouge said, twirling the amber amulet on it's chain in front of Eggman.  
  
"Patience, patience. You'll get your treasure. But-,"  
  
"I had better get it. You know how hard it was to find that thing?" Rouge snorted. "Men always get women to do their dirty work. You haven't changed a bit since I last saw you, Dr. Eggman." Eggman chuckled evilly at this.  
  
"Ah well, isn't that good to hear. But you must remember that there are two more amulets left." As he said this, Rouge flared. "Of course I don't expect you to go without a reward." Eggman produced a large, glittering ruby from a drawer at his desk. Rouge immediately lost her anger, eyes sparkling as she took the gem. With her eyes still fixed on the gem, she chucked the amulet to Eggman.  
  
"What do I get if I find the other amulets?" she asked after examining the ruby as a child does a new toy. Eggman pressed a button on a remote control and a metal flap in the wall slid up as a trolley rolled forwards to reveal a vast array of gold, silver and various gemstones. Every treasure hunter's dream. Then Eggman pressed the button again and it all rolled back in place.  
  
"Mmm, not bad," Rouge murmured. Those gems were practically hers already.  
  
"Look here..." Eggman pointed to the second of the twelve television screens in front of him. Rouge looked up and saw the still image of a young female fox that looked uncannily like Tails. She had the First Amulet in her hand. "This is Sandi," Eggman explained. "She is in alliance with Tails and is also in possession of the First Amulet." Rouge nodded. She knew what she had to do.  
  
"Is she with Tails now?" Rouge asked.  
  
"Yes. I have a feeling they are related," Eggman said. Rouge smiled. Well obviously they're related, you senile old egg, she thought.  
  
"I'll get the other amulet. Then I'm coming back for my treasure. And next time, I get every single bit of it." Rouge was about to leave when something caught her eye. On one of the t.v. screens was Knuckles. He was running with determination and Rouge spied an odd, menacing look in his eyes.  
  
"Why is Knuckles on t.v.?" Rouge asked incredulously.  
  
"Ah, yes, Knuckles was one of my...experiments...using the Orb. I was just testing the brainwashing capabilities of the Orb, and I must say it's turned out excellently. Knuckles makes a superb undercover spy." Eggman sniggered. "He's on his way right now to report back to me. The Orb keeps track of his activities, as you can see."  
  
"What? You...you brainwashed Knuckles? So now he's just a mindless zombie!" Rouge exploded with rage. There was no point in trying to hide her feelings for Knuckles now, after what Eggman had done to him. "How could you even think of doing that? I'm not working for you any more, you fat egg!" Rouge shouted. She picked up the ruby and tried to grab the amulet too, but Eggman snatched it away.  
  
"Give that back!" Rouge lunged for it, but Eggman held it back.  
  
"Uh-uh. I believe this is mine now. Ha ha ha," Eggman laughed as he took the Hiatus Orb out of the tracking device. The image of Knuckles immediately disappeared as the Orb lost contact with the machinery. Rouge had only a split-second to realise what he was doing before an invisible barrier materialised between her and Eggman. She could not reach him.  
  
'Let me through, dammit!" Rouge battered against the forcefield that the Orb had created.  
  
"My, my, until now I thought you only had eyes for treasure," Eggman commented before disappearing along with the Third Amulet and the Hiatus Orb. Those lands words stung Rouge and she screamed; "You'll regret this!" in the empty office. That was the last time she ever did anything for Eggman.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Location - Parnell Village, Loren's World.  
  
Sonic had just finished dinner with his fairy friends Marinka and Ida. He really liked the food round here. Fruits and delicacies that he had never seen before, delicious sparkling juices that left a sweet tingling aftertaste in the mouth - it was even better than his favourite fast food chain back home, and that was really saying something!  
  
"Ahhhh." Sonic let out a satisfying belch. "That was wonderful. Well, that's me full for today."  
  
"We're glad you like it," Marinka said, while Ida tried to imitate Sonic's burp.  
  
"What is that odd noise you made?" he said. "It's most peculiar...yet enjoyable."  
  
"Oh, that was a burp. I suppose fairies don't burp, then," Sonic said.  
  
"No, we've never heard such a sound."  
  
"Could you do it again?"  
  
"'Course. I'm the master burper," Sonic boasted. He performed three more loud, deep burps that reverberated off the walls of the dining hall, and the fairies faces lit up with joy.  
  
Sonic had become the new celebrity in the village, and not just for his burps. After defeating the giant crab monster he had been taken on a tour around the village, which was called Parnell, and the fairies had even invited him in their sacred Temple, a lesser sector of the great Temple of Light. They had made a great fuss over him and provided him with gifts and presents of all shapes and sizes, luxury foods and a great deal of time to rest and refresh himself. Sonic had spent all day chilling out, but one day was quite enough for him. Something deeper was worrying him. That bad vibe he had picked up when he first found himself in this world was still there. There was something not quite right about this place. The monsters that kept attacking the fairies...that black thing that had brought him here....  
  
It all had something to do with the Amulet, he reckoned. Some sort of dangerous plot had to be at the bottom of this and Sonic was pretty sure that Eggman was a part of it. He had to find out more.  
  
"Ida, what was that monster that attacked you yesterday? Why did it try to kill you?" asked Sonic.  
  
"I was afraid you would bring that subject up," Ida murmured. "You cannot see it, but the fairy race is troubled by an ancient and treacherous darkness, which comes even closer with each passing day."  
  
"I noticed it alright. Something fishy's going on round here, I felt it the instant I came here. Tell me, has this 'ancient darkness' got anything to do with Chaos?"  
  
"He was only a small part of it. Um, I think we had better go and see the Supreme Chancellor about this." Ida sighed.  
  
"Good. I want to find out what's going on," Sonic declared.  
  
So two hours later they found themselves seated in the great Council Hall in Lilensia, the main fairy city. The Chancellor had called all the representatives of the various fairy tribes to an emergency meeting. When the entire party was seated, the Chancellor rose from his elaborate chair and began to speak.  
  
"My respectable fairies, representatives, elders and hedgehog, we are gathered here in the gravest of circumstances. Before I go on, I must explain our case to our new friend Sonic, who, as many of you know, arrived here yesterday and has already gained the trust and respect of all of us." He turned his face with it's solemn expression towards Sonic, who raised a hand and stepped forward.  
  
"I would be....honoured....if you would explain what's happening here." Sonic said, searching for the right words to say. Formalities were not his thing. He remained standing in front of the Chancellor's platform as the Chancellor spoke again.  
  
"We fairies have always guarded the worlds from evil and dangerous forces. The....most powerful of these is the Void. It is an ultimate dark force, far greater than any other. It is pure destruction. Long ago, the fairies found a way to contain this evil. We had far greater magic then, than we do now, and we were able to implode the dark energy in on itself to form a contained space which we called the Hiatus Orb. Then we created three Amulets in the hope that they would safely lock the power up for ever. Only later did we discover that the amulets also served to unlock the power again....  
  
"We knew that the Void could not be contained for ever; there would be certain times when the barriers weakened and if the three Amulets were rejoined at one of these times, they would provide enough energy for the Void to be unleashed. We knew we could never allow this to happen.  
  
"So ever since we contained the Void in the Orb, we have worked hard to keep the amulets hidden, far away from each other and far away from any person who was foolish enough to lust for their power.  
  
"But now our magic has grown weaker and more people from the many parallel worlds are discovering the secrets of this power for themselves. Now, recently, our biggest threat has come. The Orb has been stolen from the sacred Temple of Light by a criminal mastermind from your world, Sonic. When it was stolen, the Militon Roamers appeared. They attack us relentlessly, day and night, tearing down villages and forests, but most especially our sacred places. We are defenceless against them, with nearly all our magic forgotten. You are the first to kill one of these monsters and survive. And so we thank you greatly, Sonic."  
  
Someone in the hall clapped, setting off a chain reaction of cheers and applause which grew steadily louder and louder. Sonic, who would have usually enjoyed such praise, held up both hands for silence.  
  
"I'd like to ask some questions, if you don't mind." Sonic turned back to face the Chancellor. "These special 'times' you were talking about - how long is it exactly until this happens again?"  
  
"The barriers weaken about once every million years, so we have, let me see....nineteen hours until the next time this happens," the Chancellor told him. Sonic gaped. He knew it was Dr. Robotnik who had stolen the Orb; that had to be the thing he used to transport Sonic here. With someone like Robotnik on the opposition, Sonic knew it was serious. Robotnik never gave up once he started, but then neither did Sonic.  
  
"Isn't there any other way we can prevent this?" Sonic asked.  
  
"No, I'm afraid not. Keeping the Amulets safe is our only hope," the Chancellor said sadly.  
  
"But there has to be some other way! Look, I know the guy that took the Orb and I know this isn't gonna be easy. We have to do something about this," Sonic argued.  
  
"There is nothing we can do," the Chancellor replied stolidly. Sonic looked around at the gloomy faces in the Council Hall. He had just about had enough, His old Freedom Fighter nature was re-emerging.  
  
"I'll tell you what we do. We fight! If you rally all your troops and use the last of your fairy magic then we can do it. We can beat the Void. You wanna know what the problem here is? You never do anything active - what you're doing is, is, just sitting here and letting fate decide what happens. Don't just accept it, rise to fight it. If we all believe, we can save both our worlds." Sonic stood there for a couple more seconds to let the words sink in, then he sat down, red-faced.  
  
The fairies in the hall started whispering quietly to each other. It made a low buzz of sound as the Chancellor tried to think this through. After what seemed like ages to Sonic after his outburst, a fairy in a scarlet uniform stood up.  
  
"I agree with Sonic. Chancellor, we were meant to protect the worlds from the Void and I believe that we can complete this task if we try. We have all the magical resources and soldiers that we need. Nineteen hours in plenty of time for my army."  
  
"Thank you, Brigadier Jiila," the Chancellor said, motioning for him to sit down. "It seems as though we have been given new words of hope."  
  
"I call for a vote!" someone shouted from the assembly, interrupting the Chancellor. Others took up the call.  
  
"All right. A vote, then," said the Chancellor sourly, slightly put out by the interruption. "Raise your hands all those in favour of Sonic's plan." Every fairy in the, excepting the Chancellor, put their hands up.  
  
"Well, that's sorted then," Sonic quipped. "Jiila, prepare your troops for assembly at the Temple of Light in two hours. Everyone else, gather what magic you have. We're going to put that Orb outta action for good!" With a swipe of his hand, he banged his fist down on thin air to emphasise his point as the Council Hall exploded with applause. For Sonic, the battle was just beginning.  
  
End of Part Three  
  
* * * * * 


	11. Shinolou Volcano

Part Four : Location - Tails's plane, the Thunderstorm.  
  
For Tails and company, the battle was in full swing. Luckily, it was swinging their way. Perched in the Thunderstorm, high in the sky, they were congratulating themselves on their success at Karmen Island, and taking a well-earned rest.  
  
"Amy, that's twice now you've saved us. Remember, the mirror, on the Silverbelle? And then the gun....oooh, Stella must be so mad! Ha ha." Tails chuckled as he lazily handled the steering controls.  
  
"Yeah. And once again, the Spectacular Amy Rose did save the day. For real, this time," Amy said. "I'm sorry. I got you in this mess. The least I could do was get you out of it too."  
  
"You did that alright!" Sandi said. "I really hate that woman. She's just a big fat, um, um..."  
  
"Pumpkin, perhaps?" asked Tails, falling about with laughter. Amy smothered her giggles. Sandi looked extremely embarrassed. "Pumpkin...honestly! I have to teach you combat-speak!" Tails added. Sandi could not help but laugh too.  
  
"I couldn't think of anything else to say," she confessed. "'Pumpkin' sounded good at the time. Only question is - what do we do now?"  
  
"I've pinpointed the location of Eggman's base from the description Amy got. It's Shinolou Volcano on one of the Trinity Islands. I've set flight co-ordinates so we'll arrive in half an hour," said Tails.  
  
"That's fine with me," Amy said happily.  
  
"Me too," said Sandi. "Anyway, when's our next food stop?"  
  
* * * * *  
  
As Tails had predicted, they arrived at the volcano half an hour later. It was a tall, angular mountain of red rock, steeped in Mediterranean-type shrubs and trees, towering far above the other two of the Trinity Islands. It overlooked the wild expanses of the largest island, and the modern, well-built-up tourist area of the second island. There were no inhabitants on Shinolou itself. A perfect location for a typical Eggman base.  
  
"Now we have to find the secret entrance," Tails moaned.  
  
"You seem to know exactly what you're doing," said Sandi.  
  
"It's always the same," Tails said wearily. Amy chipped in, stumbling off the plane. "Remember Eggman's last base in that pyramid? That took aaages to find the entrance," she reminded him.  
  
"Thanks for the encouragement," he murmured. They walked around the side of the volcano, looking for a way in. Then Tails saw a red figure approaching. "Hide! It's Knuckles!" Tails whispered urgently. He dragged the girls into a clump of bushes behind them. They fell down a little bank and hurriedly scrambled back up again to peer out from the cover of the foliage.  
  
"Knuckles? What's he up to now?" asked Amy.  
  
"Remember, that Void is still controlling him," said Sandi. "Maybe he'll show us the entrance." So they watched as Knuckles went up to a bare slab of rock and pressed a long, conical stone into three indents in the rock, in order. The rock heaved open and a metal door appeared behind it. Knuckles breathed on a metal pad in the centre of the door; it made a harsh clicking sound, then a ting, and the door opened.  
  
Amy slipped down the bank a bit, raising clouds of dust from the dry ground. She muffled a sneeze and Knuckles's blank, lifeless eyes turned her way. Amy, Tails and Sandi held their breaths tensely as his gaze passed over them. Knuckles walked in the entrance. The doors closed behind him, the rock moved back and the trio could breathe again.  
  
"Whew! I was sure he'd see us there," said Sandi.  
  
"I'm going to check out the entrance," Tails announced. He clambered out from the bushes and went to examine the door. Sandi noticed that he had started limping slightly again. The medicine was wearing off and the bandage around his leg was dirty and torn.  
  
Sandi picked up the stone that Knuckles had left behind and pressed it into the holes in the rock. It opened once again to reveal the metal door. Tails breathed once or twice on the pad but an angry beep showed that entry was refused.  
  
"It's a breath-sampler," said Tails. "I don't know how it works, but it's not going to let us in." Sandi groaned, then turned around.  
  
"Whee's Amy?"  
  
"Hey guys, over here! I found something seriously cool," came Amy's chirpy voice. Seconds later, Amy herself popped out from the bushes they had just been hiding in. Tails and Sandi followed her all the way down the bank until they reached a small, dark cave. "It leads right into the mountain," said Amy happily.  
  
"Looks like an old lava vent. It should be safe enough; the volcano's been dormant for centuries," said Tails. And in they went.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Location - Inside Robotnik's base.  
  
Rouge peered cautiously round the corner. Tiptoeing towards the security room, she looked through the perspex window at the television screens, displaying the security cameras. The guard robot did not notice her. She watched the centre screen, which was focussed on the main entrance. She saw Knuckles enter, then a few minutes later Tails and Sandi running up to the door, then running out of sight again. So they had arrived too. Rouge raised an eyebrow and ducked down below the window in case the guard robot turned her way. Then, quietly, she headed towards the central control room by the lava pit. Things were just beginning to heat up.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Location - Central Control Room, Robotnik's base.  
  
Eggman had just finished logging the Third Amulet's data on to his master computer when Knuckles walked in.  
  
"Master Robotnik. I have come to report back to you," he said mechanically.  
  
"Very good. Very good....now, have you got the information that I wanted?" said Eggman. Knuckles nodded. He held out a red file. It had Tails's name on it.  
  
"Top secret codes for the virus program you requested, Master," Knuckles stated. Eggman took it with glee.  
  
"At last! Tails's secret invention belongs to me!" He opened the file by his humongous computer and started typing away furiously, reproducing the information. Knuckles simply stood there, as lifeless as a brick.  
  
Suddenly a deep rumbling interrupted Eggman. He stopped his typing and looked to the source of the noise - the lava pit. A great metallic capsule rose out of it and zoomed through the fencing like a rocket. The noise it made was deafening. It landed at the other end of the rom with a bang, lava dripping from the heat-proof material and searing through the floor. The hatch in the capsule roof opened and three very familiar figures came out spluttering, steaming and red-faced from the heat.  
  
"Tails! Amy! Sandi!" Eggman said, surprised with the rather dramatic entrance. "Don't you ever just give up?"  
  
"That's funny. I could say exactly the same thing about you," Tails commented. Then his face assumed a serious frown. "This time you've gone too far, Dr. Eggman. You may have got rid of Sonic, but you won't win the battle. We're gonna take you out!"  
  
"Ah, but you're too late," Eggman replied triumphantly. "I've already encoded the virus you developed into my database." Tails saw with horror his precious red file lying by Eggman's computer system.  
  
"My....my file! You thief!" Tails shouted.  
  
"How very flattering. But don't thank me. Knuckles here deserves the credit," said Eggman. Knuckles smirked, fixing his sinister glare on Tails. That glare brought back painful memories and Tails shuddered.  
  
"Why did you take it?" Tails demanded.  
  
"Isn't it obvious? With access to every computer system in the world, I can transmit the Void's power to each country across the globe, once the Plasmic Generator has multiplied it's power to the highest velocity. It ensures complete control, and then my wonderful vison of Eggman Empire will at last become reality!" Eggman accompanied this revelation with a hearty cackle, of the 'mad scientist' variety.  
  
"You really are one crazy egg," Amy exclaimed.  
  
"You're going down," Tails said boldly. Eggman laughed again.  
  
"Let's see you get through Knuckles first," he said. Knuckles stepped forward. Dangerous, wild, gracefully poised for action, he was ready for whatever they gave him and Tails knew it. Tails gulped as he stepped forth to face Knuckles. But he felt a hand on his shoulder, pulling him back.  
  
"Leave it to me." Sandi stepped in front of Tails. "I've been waiting for this." She stood, hands on hips, staring almost insolently at Knuckles. "Well, I'm all here, Knuckles. Come and get me." He charged. Sandi nimbly leapt aside and struck on the side of his windpipe with a knife-hand blow. Breath cut short, Knuckles faltered. Sandi aimed a mawashi-geri round kick at Knuckles's stomach. He spun round, regained his balance and punched her twice with an uppercut to finish. Sandi staggered back, falling to her knees. She had only a split second after that to spring out of the way as Knuckles swung a particularly powerful punch at her. He hit the floor instead, leaving a deep dent in it.  
  
Sandi came forward, fists flying. Her speed and agility made Knuckles no match for her. She kicked, he retaliated with a punch, she leapt up into the air, did a couple of somersaults and twisted her body into a spinning sidekick from mid-air. The sheer force of the kick sent Knuckles crashing into the wall behind him.  
  
"Nobody beats up my brother and gets away with it," Sandi snarled. Knuckles roared out something about a dark force and they began to fight again. Amy stayed on the sidelines, shouting out encouragement to Sandi. Tails crept towards the master computer, closer to his file. Nobody was paying any attention to him. All eyes were on Sandi and Knuckles. Tails had almost reached the file....  
  
Finally his hands closed around the file and slowly, gently, he pulled it towards him. But Eggman noticed at the last moment. He grabbed hold of Tails's arm and held him up above the ground.  
  
"Ah-ah-ah," Eggman tutted. "Don't steal thing, Tails." Tails kicked and wriggled and squirmed to get out of his grasp.  
  
"Put me down! You big bully," he shouted. Eggman laughed and wrenched the file from Tails.  
  
"I have no more use for this file now. The codes are already in my computer," Eggman said nonchalantly. He threw the file into the lava pit through the hole that the capsule had made. Tails saw it bubble, disintegrate and disappear below the surface of the burning lava. He felt a hollow pang of loss and despair - all that work was gone and Eggman had stolen the codes.  
  
Now Eggman turned back to the computer, still not letting go of Tails. He lifted up a hatch on his desk and took out something black and spherical.......  
  
As the Orb began to pulsate, Tails thrashed about like a fish out of water. By now Amy had noticed and was running to help. Eggman let the Orb power up, then he raised it high above his head with his free hand, aiming it's paralysing green beam at Tails. Just when it was about to strike, Tails swung his two tails around, knocking Eggman off balance. Eggman dropped Tails and the Orb's deadly brainwashing beam went haywire. Tails crashed into a pile of junk and a huge metal bucket fell on top of him. He felt a beam from the Orb ricochet off the bucket in the very instant that the bucket had landed over him. Tails curled up tight inside the confined space, waiting for the havoc to end. Once the noise had died down, Tails lifted the bucket. Sandi and Knuckles had taken no notice of the Orb; they were so immersed in combat. They were circling each other like two wildcats. Eggman was regaining control over the Orb, and Amy was walking towards Tails. There was....an odd look in her eyes.....  
  
"Amy...." Tails said, trying to sound friendly. Amy glowered.  
  
"You will never beat the Dark Force," she said throatily. Then she launched herself at Tails.  
  
"Amy, why are you doing this?" Tails gasped, dodging in between ferocious blows from Amy. He did not know why he had asked her that. It was obvious that she was possessed, as was Knuckles. The beam had hit her. And she would not stop attacking him.  
  
Meanwhile, Sandi had triumphed over Knuckles. After nearly being knocked into the lava pool, she had doubled back and performed a jumping scissor-kick at Knuckles. It had done the trick. Knuckles was still conscious, but he was now on the floor, temporarily dazed. Sandi sprinted towards Eggman and snatched the Hiatus Orb from his grasp. Tails watched, and was caught out by Amy, who hit him across the back of the head. He spun round and caught sight of something on one of the upper levels in the control room. Something he had seen before. Fending off Amy, he looked up again. Yes! There it was, up on the highest platform, the Plasmic Generator! Tails looked back and saw Sandi with the Orb. An idea cropped up in his head. He cast his mind back to when he had first encountered the generator. He had known how to work it, and he would have back then if Stella had not stopped him. He had to be right. If there was a way to amplify the Orb's power with that thing, then there must be a way to shrink it's power too, make it work in reverse.  
  
"Sandi - the Orb!" Tails shouted, waving his hands in the air. Sandi understood and chucked the Orb to him. Tails caught it and ran up the stairs at the wall of the vast control room. Amy automatically ran after him.  
  
Tails was still far from the top when he saw Rouge. She was beside the Plasmic Generator. He was certainly surprised to see her. She saw him in the same instant. Tails suddenly felt Amy pull him back. He looked below him and saw Eggman and Knuckles ganging up on Sandi. There was not much time left.  
  
The stairs reached out right over the lava pit and there was no banister to fence them off from the deadly pool. Tails realised that both he and Amy were perched treacherously on the narrow stairs, and with Amy acting the way she was, one of them was bound to fall off.  
  
"Rouge!" He tried to go forward but Amy dragged him back again. Tails lifted the Orb. Rouge motioned for him to throw it to her. He had to trust her. As Amy grabbed his injured leg, he raised the Orb and threw it to Rouge. Then, cringing with pain, he fought Amy off him, prising her fingers from his wounded leg. While Rouge placed the Orb in the allocated space, he called out instructions to her. "The lever...pull down the big lever and set the dial to zero. Then press 'ENTER'." He hoped she would get it right.  
  
BLAAAMM! There was an almighty blast of noise and a flash of green light. The dark energy appeared to be flowing back into the Orb. The energy was imploding. It lasted for a full minute, this brilliant display of energy. Then the generator hummed, getting softer and softer, slowing down. It stopped abruptly.  
  
Rouge had done it. She had minimised the Orb's power.  
  
Amy stopped what she was doing in mid-punch. Her eyes lost their cloudiness and she gasped in astonishment.  
  
"Tails...I was about to..hit you?" Amy lowered her fist. "But why?"  
  
"You were temporarily under the influence of the Void." Tails told her. Amy was shocked. Rouge came down the steps behind them, holding the Hiatus Orb.  
  
"Everyone o.k?" she asked.  
  
"Sort of. You could give me a hand down these stairs though," said Tails. His bandage had been ripped right off and the ugly purple welt was showing. It was now throbbing as painfully as before. Rouge stared at his leg for a second, then let him lean on her shoulder.  
  
"So you finally turned up. I figured it wouldn't take you long to catch on to Eggman's plan," Rouge commented.  
  
"I didn't expect to see you here," said Tails. "Why are you here anyway?"  
  
"Yeah, who's side are you on?" Amy butted in.  
  
"I was cheated by Eggman. I don't like the way he's treating you and your friends. I may as well help you, if it means getting back at him."  
  
"All right. You're with us, then." Tails was always ready to trust.  
  
They greeted Knuckles at the foot of the stairs.  
  
"Hey, guys. I feel like I've been dreaming," he said woozily.  
  
"It's okay. Don't worry yourself about what's happened," said Tails.  
  
"Um, what exactly has happened?"  
  
"Eggman was controlling you with the Orb. You, er, did a lot of things you would not have normally done," Tails explained. He did not need to tell Knuckles what had happened earlier that day in the Mystic Ruins. He did not need to make Knuckles feel like a traitor.  
  
"Why that rotten...."  
  
"Knuckles! Look, we're in his base now, so what d'ya say we trash the place?" Sandi said. Knuckles winked.  
  
"Sure thing."  
  
Together, Tails, Knuckles and Sandi destroyed the master computer. Amy was thoroughly enjoying herself. She had picked up a slab of metal and was bashing it around happily, demolishing all the delicate and expensive worktops and control panels, smashing to smithereens all the intricately complex machinery that Eggman had spent ages building. Tails dealt with the electricity and Knuckles and Sandi simultaneously punched and karate- chopped their way through everything. In the havoc that followed, Eggman just about had enough time to take the Hiatus Orb from Rouge.  
  
"Hey! Eggman's getting away with the Orb!" Amy shouted. Tails, Knuckles and Sandi swung round. Eggman was heading for the door.  
  
"We have to stop him!" Tails cried. They ran to catch up with Eggman but he got out of the door and locked it behind him.  
  
"You can't stop me," Eggman said. "You may have destroyed my base, but I still have the virus microchip!" He held up a tiny gleaming object for all to see through the glass porthole in the door. Tails looked furious. Then Eggman was gone.  
  
"Man, I hate that evil doctor," Knuckles cursed.  
  
"He stole my invention," sobbed Tails. Sandi put an arm around him comfortingly. "We'll get it back somehow. Now, why don't we blow this stinking place up, like Stella's base?" she suggested. Then an ear-splitting noise resounded in the room. It made the walls shake, like a rocket taking off.  
  
"No. Eggman will be off the island by now," Tails said gloomily. "It's a volcano, remember. Blowing the place up will trigger an eruption and it's too close to the tourist area."  
  
"So what's next?" asked Amy. Tails felt a thrill of leadership - that he had never had the chance to feel when Sonic was around - as their heads turned to him.  
  
"Okay. It's seven p.m. now, so we have seventeen hours before the Orb unleashes it's power," Tails began. "We have to find out where this is taking place. So we'll need to follow Eggman. Then we can stop this whole thing before it actually happens."  
  
"Alright!" Sandi exclaimed. They made their way to the outside of the volcano. On the way out, Knuckles spotted the Third Amulet, lying forgotten amongst the rubble. He picked it up.  
  
  
  
* * * * *  
  
Amy and Sandi had gone to take care of the Thunderstorm, leaving Tails, Rouge and Knuckles alone underneath the stars in the night sky. All was silent for a moment, then Knuckles broke the stillness roughly.  
  
"What do you think you're doing here?" he snarled stiffly, giving Rouge an evil look. Rouge was taken aback.  
  
"Me? I - I - oh, why are you being so uptight? Trust me, I'm helping you guys. And if your way of saying thanks is shouting at me, then I suggest you go find something else to do," Rouge shot back.  
  
"How can I possibly expect to trust you? You never told Eggman before when you were working for the Government!" Knuckles argued. "I was even beginning to believe those lies you were telling me - until you turned up here."  
  
"Knuckles, please....I'm not on Dr. Eggman's side. I - "  
  
"Too damn right! You aint on anyone's side, except for your own."  
  
"No....just listen! Alright, so I did get that amulet for Dr. Eggman, and he was gonna pay me for it, but - but - then I found out what he'd done to you and I said I wasn't going to work for him any more. He took the amulet from me."  
  
"And how do I know you're not lying?" Knuckles eyed her suspiciously.  
  
"Because I was the one who stopped the Orb from controlling you," said Rouge.  
  
"But that was Tails!" Knuckles said, confused. Tails, who had been standing not too far off, chipped in.  
  
"No, it wasn't me. Rouge was the only one close enough to the generator. For anyone else it would have been impossible." Tails raised an eyebrow at Knuckles, as if to indicate something.  
  
"Why? Why did you do it? Is this still part of some plot....or did you really....mean it?" Knuckles asked Rouge quietly. Despite the coldness of the night air, he felt his blood heating up rapidly.  
  
"I know what you think of me. But I could not bear to see you treated like that, by Eggman, by the Orb. I'm sorry..... I....." Rouge trailed off. She locked eyes with Knuckles for a moment, and suddenly they both smiled. Tails could not help but smile too.  
  
"Well, I've got one evil scientist to catch up with, guys, so that's me outta here." He chuckled as he glanced at the reconciled pair.  
  
"Yeah, 'scuse us both, we're off too," Knuckles said, and taking Rouge's hand in his own, he turned and walked away with Rouge at his side. Tails sighed contentedly and went back to the Thunderstorm where Amy and Sandi would be waiting.  
  
* * * * * 


	12. Engine Trouble

Location - 'The Black Region'.  
  
Loren felt cold, swirling mists all around her. It was icy-cold. For the first time, she was fully aware of her senses. She was fully aware of what it was like to be human. It felt strange. Her senses were sharper than before. I suppose it's because humans don't have magic, so they need their natural senses more, she thought.  
  
The Black Region was a horrible place to be. It was an endless dark vacuum, a space between the worlds. There was every chance of ending up in the wrong place, so great care was needed. But also, spending too long in the Black Region was dangerous. She could become disoriented, her thoughts could melt away, she would be lost forever. Loren did not like that thought, but she knew she could not afford to get lost. She knew something about the darkness that no-one else did, and she needed to get to Tails, let him understand.... She needed to get to him in time. Time......  
  
Time did not exist in the vacuum. She tumbled on into the mist.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Location - Shinolou Volcano.  
  
Tails climbed over the small rise that would lead him to the Thunderstorm. He pushed aside a dense, prickly gorse bush and stepped out into the open. He saw Sandi and Amy first. Then, behind them, the Thunderstorm - completely wrecked!  
  
"Tails, don't come any closer!" Sandi warned, a worried look on her face. The Stella - yes, Stella - walked out from the darkness behind Sandi and Amy. Rifle black in hand again and shades reflecting the moonlight, it was unmistakably her.  
  
"Hello, Tails," she drawled, her voice laced with venom.  
  
"How did you get here? I thought I left you on that island!" Tails said incredulously. "Well you thought wrong. And I'm back. Dr. Robotnik sent a helicopter over for me. So I could come back here."  
  
"Ha ha! You had to get Eggman to save you!" Tails laughed. Stella sharply pointed the weapon at Sandi and Amy's frightened faces. Tails stopped laughing.  
  
"You can run but you can't hide," Stella purred sweetly. " I made a vow to kill you and I don't go back on my word."  
  
"Well why ruin my plane? Or, unless you made a vow to do that too," said Tails crossly.  
  
"Oh, that old piece of junk? It was worthless anyway." Stella lowered the rifle to the floor and fired. There was a rumble, the ground ruptured and a host of small, spindly spider robots came scurrying out of the ground. Their tiny metal pincers made a sickening clicking sound. Tails ran forward and took hold of Amy and Sandi.  
  
"C'mon! Run!" he cried. They followed him through the bushes and down the bank, bullets from Stella's rifle exploding all around them as they escaped. They made it into the tunnel.  
  
"Yeuch! That was, like, total gross!" Amy exclaimed, shivering as she pictured the hideous spider-robot swarm.  
  
"Aw, man, I never want to see anything like that again!" said Sandi.  
  
"Stella's still following us. We have to get to Eggman's flight deck, find another plane and get out of here," Tails said. He set off into the pitch black cave. Amy and Sandi heard pincers clicking not far off and hastily followed.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Eggman's flight deck was huge. There were so many different aeroplanes and helicopters that it was hard to choose which one they needed. Tails stopped in front of a large biplane called the 'FOX - 457'.  
  
"That one looked fine," Sandi commented, looking at the name of it. Tails seemed to be considering it. Behind them, the first of the spider robots scuttled through the door.  
  
"Okay. It'll do," said Tails. They climbed in and Tails started it up as more and more spiders poured through the door. The clock on the dashboard said seven-fifteen pm.  
  
"Hurry, Tails!" Sandi screamed from the back compartment of the plane, hammering on the back of his seat. Amy was sitting on the floor, knees drawn in, trying very hard not to think about the spider robots. In a flurry of fingers, Tails prepared the plane for lift-off. Suddenly, the cockpit door flung open and a long, black-sleeved arm smashed down over the controls. Tails looked up in shock. Stella had caught up with them.  
  
"Out of the plane," she ordered, pressing the gun into his side. Heart pounding, Tails did so. Stella made him get in the back, the cargo area, with Amy and Sandi, then she sen the spider robots in to tie them up. She watched over it all with grim satisfaction, rifle in hand in case anyone made a false move. Tails, Amy and Sandi were speechless. The spider robots ejected thick, strong, silky ropes, as all spider do, and then expertly wove the bonds to and fro, securing each of the three companions to the length of metal piping that ran along the side of the rear compartment.  
  
"Don't look so gloomy, Tails. Enjoy this day while you can. It may be your last." Stella smirked as she went back to the cockpit. The three friends struggled but to no avail. The spiders' cords were too tough.  
  
"What do you think she's doing?" Amy whispered.  
  
"I don't know, and I sure don't want to find out,"Tails whispered back.  
  
"This is so not funny," Sandi moaned. Stella returned from the cockpit triumphantly. "So long, Tails," she said as she slammed down the hatch at the very back of the plane. Tails caught one last glimpse of her smarmy figure before the engine started and a mechanical voice blared in his ears; 'AUTO- PILOT MODE - INITIATED.'  
  
"Oh no," Tails said in horror, his voice no louder than the quietest of whispers.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Location - Outside the Temple of Light, Loren's world.  
  
"Oh no," Sonic groaned. "Where's Sector Twenty Four? They're meant to be here!" He paced up and down outside the Temple, looking at the rows upon rows of fairy soldiers.  
  
"They're just arriving, sir," a Regiment Guard official informed Sonic.  
  
"Right. Our next step is to find a way through to my own world," Sonic said. The soldier drifted off to join the others. Sonic groaned inwardly. He had already talked to the Chancellor, who had assumed a very gloomy outlook on the whole project. The Chancellor had given him no good ideas. And Sonic was at a loss. Sonic was just passing the guard tent when a voice hissed out at him;  
  
"Psst! Sonic, over here!" Sonic nearly cried out loud when a silvery hand grabbed him and pulled him behind the tent. "Shhh! Don't cry out. My name is Mara." Sonic looked at the fairy who had caught his attention. She was tall, with short dark brown hair and hazel-almond eyes. "I know a way to get to the Other Side."  
  
"You do?"  
  
"Yes. My best friend, Loren, managed to do it. She wasn't meant to, but she wanted to get in touch with this little fox called Tails. I helped her. So, so maybe we can do the same here. You've got to trust me," Mara whispered softly, constantly looking over her shoulder in an agitated manner as she spoke. As though she was afraid that someone would see them.  
  
"Tails? Wait a second, what's Tails doing in all this mess?" Sonic exclaimed.  
  
"Ah. You must know Tails, then. Apparently, he is the Witness of the Truth, the only one who can stop the Void. Nobody believed Loren when she told them. The Chancellor even took away her powers. So she went alone."  
  
"Tails is the only one who can stop the Void? Wow, I sure hope he's okay."  
  
"With Loren, he should be. Now, to get everyone here through to your world, you have to...." The words caught in Mara's throat. A hand clamped down on her shoulder. Sonic looked up and saw a dozen Regiment Guard prison keepers circled around them.  
  
"You're coming with us, young lady. You're still in custody, remember," one of the prison keepers said gruffly. Mara yelped and struggled, but they held her fast. As they dragged Mara away, Sonic leapt to his feet.  
  
"Hey! Let go of her! She's done nothing wrong!" he shouted. Several fairies turned to look.  
  
"You don't want to be hanging around with the likes of her," the lead prison keeper said brusquely. "She's in custody for a reason. It's for your own safety more than anything, Mr. Sonic."  
  
"You have to trust me! Trust me!" Mara screamed. Sonic clenched his teeth as she vanished from sight. He was peeved at those arrogant prison keepers' behaviour. Not only had they treated Mara barbarically, but they had called him 'Mister' too. He resented that.  
  
How were those prison keepers so sure that Mara was a criminal? Sonic felt certain that he trusted her more than he did them. She had talked about Tails. She had to be more right than they were.  
  
As the onlookers turned back to their duties, Sonic knew only one thing. He had to talk to Mara again. She might be the key to getting through to his world - and stopping Eggman.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Location - 'FOX-457' biplane.  
  
"What's going on? Tails, tell us!" Sandi shrieked.  
  
"N-nothing important.....just help me get free. I need to get free...the cockpit....." Tails raved.  
  
"You don't say 'oh no' for nothing," Amy shouted. She strained to loose the cords that were biting into her already-swollen wrists. Tails gulped as the plane left the ground.  
  
"It's on automatic pilot. I don't know where Stella's set it to land, but this means we can't steer it until I get it off auto." Tails trembled as he spoke.  
  
"And if you don't get it off auto...." Amy whispered.  
  
"Then it goes wherever Stella's programmed it to go," Tails finished her sentence.  
  
"I don't even want to think about where that might be," Sandi muttered. They watched through the small, grimy windows as the plane shot through the flight deck towards a rock wall, which transformed into an entrance in the mountainside that opened automatically for them. A sudden draft of air from the slightly open window in the cockpit told them that they were off the island and rising steeply, climbing up into the air. It was bumpy in the back of the plane. Every little air pocket and updraft sent them bouncing about the place, constantly being jolted back by the tight lashings round their wrists and ankles.  
  
Tails did not like not being in control of the plane. He was usually the pilot, not the passenger. But most of the time even the passenger knows where he's going, Tails thought. I don't.  
  
They passed a stream of billowing cloud, navy blue in the twilight. Then the plane burst from the velvet cloud cover and stilled, hovering silently above the cloud carpet. The moon's unblinking eye shone through the small windows, bathing them in silvery light and illuminating every shadow. There was an uncomfortable tension, which seemed to last forever. Suspended between the clouds and the heavens, Tails, Amy and Sandi could read the fear on each other's faces from the intense moonlight.  
  
Nobody spoke. Each of them could almost sense what was going to happen. Tails listened to his heartbeat.  
  
Thud. Thud.  
  
The glaring light of the moon gave the convincing illusion that he was being drenched in fear; cold, naked fear.  
  
Thud. Thud.  
  
The silence was deafening.  
  
Thud. Thud.  
  
Any moment now, he would feel that sickening lurch downwards, that dreadful sensation in the pit of his stomach-  
  
Thud.  
  
-he was poised on the very top of a rollercoaster, in the front cart, and he was caught in that awful moment between anxious waiting and plunging down over the edge.  
  
Thud.  
  
Any moment now.....  
  
"Aaaah!" In a whirl and a flurry, the plane dived down steeply, almost vertically. The onrush of air tore the trio's screams away into the night. The pressure going down was immense.  
  
"Tails - we need to - g-get - out of - here," Sandi choked. She spoke haltingly, the air from the open window tearing at her vocal chords, stoppering her words.  
  
"I know! Get - me - untied! I can - stop - it," Tails shouted as best as he could in the confusion and noise.  
  
"I - can't - reach," Sandi shouted back, trying to reach the bonds with her teeth.  
  
"Knot's - too - tight," Amy wheezed. They were very stuck.  
  
Then everything changed. At first, Tails only felt a sort of gap in the air, like the air was opening, splitting apart. It was horribly cold at first, then a brilliant warmth seeped through until it filled the empty space. Something was pushing through. Something magical.  
  
Amy and Sandi could sense it too. Then all of a sudden the air really did rip apart. Golden light pierced through from nowhere, drowning out the glare of the moon. Colours within the plane went from icy moonlight blue to warm golden rays. There was an immense magical upheaval, and Loren materialised into the cargo area.  
  
"Wow....I...I...made it through...to the Other Side." She was gasping and panting heavily.  
  
"Loren! Help us!" Tails cried. She noticed the three of them then.  
  
"Tails, what happened to you?" she asked, stepping over to help him free. The air pressure seemed not to affect her as it did the others.  
  
"We're - gonna - crash, and soon! The plane's on - automatic - pilot.......Hey? What happened - to your - wings?" said Tails.  
  
"I'm human."  
  
"Whoah....well - anyway, get - me - untied - quick," Tails stuttered. Below them, an island came into view. One of the Trinity Islands. It had a lot of trees - and a cliff. A cliff that was pearly white in the moonlight. They were heading straight towards it! Loren fumbled with the rope.  
  
"I can't undo it. It's too tight," she said nervously.  
  
"You - stop the plane - then. Just - do what I - say," Tails yelled. Loren nodded and climbed into the cockpit.  
  
By now Amy and Sandi had figured that this was the fairy that Tails had told them about. They sat tight as the plane hurtled downwards and prayed that Loren would not get it wrong.  
  
Tails hollered out instructions until his voice was hoarse. The pressure intensified the closer they got to the cliff. Glass from the open window, and other debris, was flung to the far end of the cargo pit. One shard caught Tails on the cheek. They were twenty metres away now........ten....nine....eight....seven....six....  
  
The plane broke from autopilot and Loren wrenched the steering controls upwards, swinging the plane wildly out of balance and scraping it's underside against the cliff face. Loren was not too good at steering. The plane swerved up, then down again, heading at breakneck speed towards the miles of forest that lay beyond the cliff top. They were on a collision course.  
  
All four companions screamed their hearts out as the plane jolted, banged, crashed, tumbled, skidded, smashed, hurtled, barged, right through the trees, tearing it's way through the forest like a bat out of hell.  
  
Tails shut his eyes tight and closed out all the pain of every jolt and shudder to his weary limbs, his leg in particular. When at last the plane came to rest, he was so dizzy and muddled, so utterly shaken that he was nearly sick. He was sure the girls were feeling the same.  
  
This was confirmed when Amy actually was sick.  
  
Loren found a sharp metal prong and sliced through the restricting cords that bound them. Tails staggered outside. As he did so, he noticed the clock on the dashboard. Seven-twenty-one p.m. Five minutes! That whole shaky scenario had only lasted five minutes!  
  
Boy, time flies when you're having fun, he thought.  
  
* * * * * 


	13. Loren explains herself

Location - Lilensia State Prison, Loren's world.  
  
The Lilensia state prison was a weird place. For one thing, it was too clean. Every single thing - the walls, the floor, the objects - were pure white. It was freaky. Especially for Sonic, who was used to prisons back home being dark, dank and smelly. But - white? There was something irksome about that.  
  
It was crucial that Sonic found Mara. He had to hear what she had been about to say before the guards interrupted.  
  
Eventually he found her, in a small, isolated cell on the top floor. The prison was hardly full at all, in fact, Mara seemed to be about ninety per cent of the prison's criminal population.  
  
"Mara, it's me, Sonic," he whispered, peering through the bars. She looked up.  
  
"Sonic!" she whispered excitedly.  
  
"Yeah, I'm here to save you," he boasted, the usual superhero regime. "I need your help. I do trust you, Mara, and this is urgent. We only have sixteen and a half hours left."  
  
"Okay. My idea is that we do what Loren did - we transform all the fairies into humans, using the last of our magic. And we navigate a path through the Void, to get to the Hiatus Orb."  
  
"Hey, whoah there, slow down! Are you sure this'll work?"  
  
"I am sure. I can sense that Loren has made it. My magic tells me she is with Tails now."  
  
"Okay, okay, so we change all the fairies into humans, and then...."  
  
"We create a path through the Void. But we have to hurry; time does not exist in the Void, it could take forever and we would not know. Then again, it could take a matter of seconds."  
  
"That's a chance I'm willing to take."  
  
"Then I shall show you how it's done. But you've got to get me out of here!" Mara hissed, keeping her voice down low. A Regiment Guard prison keeper walked round the corner towards them just then. Sonic stood up straight, ready to face the guard. He was getting Mara out of there - if not by polite, civilised negotiation then by force.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Location - Forest, Trinity Islands.  
  
Underneath a great, large-leafed tree the four friends lay, completely exhausted. The forest they had landed in was the third of the Trinity Islands. It was dense and humid, with sub-tropical vegetation growing here and there in thick tangles. A true jungle.  
  
The plane was totally wrecked. Both wings had been torn off brutally and so had the tail. The cockpit door was hanging limp by one hinge and the body of the plane was battered, bruised and scratched all over with deep slashes. Vines and branches covered the plane like party streamers. What had once been white-painted metal was now an ugly mess. It was no wonder that the plane was in such a state; looking back down the way they had come, you could see a wide, clean-cut tunnel. That was the gash that the plane had made as it had punched through the ancient forest.  
  
"I don't think I'm ever going to stop hallucinating spider-robots," Amy complained, brushing imaginary spiders off her dress and hair.  
  
"That was....some ride," Sandi panted, leaning back against the grand, aged tree trunk. Midges buzzed around the shafts of sunlight that sliced through the gaps in the canopy overhead.  
  
"I'd say! It was almost as bad as letting Knuckles drive," Amy joked. Both she and Tails remembered that. Last year, when they had gone up to the space colony to stop Eggman from using the Eclipse Cannon, Knuckles had piloted the rocket - and crashed it too!  
  
"I dunno. On the whole, I think I'd prefer Knuckles," Tails commented. Loren smiled.  
  
"I've never flown a...flying-thing before," she confessed.  
  
"That's okay. You saved our lives. For a first attempt, that's pretty good," said Tails.  
  
"So, what exactly happened back there in the plane?" Sandi asked Loren. "I mean, when you just materialised in front of us. I don't understand it."  
  
"I had some help from a friend, to make me human and transport me into the Black Region - that's the barrier between the worlds - so I could reach you. I had to get to you - it's very important. We have to stop the Void, now. The fairies won't listen to me. They won't do anything. I couldn't just sit there doing nothing like the rest of them."  
  
"You go girl," Amy said with respect.  
  
"The Chancellor and his posse really bug me. They're meant to be in charge of the system, they're meant to take action against the Void, and they do nothing. They took away my magic when I spoke up against them. But I had to get to you. My thoughts guided me to you." Then, whispering, she added, "That's a little secret of Black Region navigation."  
  
"Well you certainly came at the right time," said Tails.  
  
"Yeah. Now you tell me - what's been going on here since I last talked to you? What have I missed out on?" Loren asked.  
  
"Okay........." Amy and Sandi exchanged smiles as Tails prepared to launch into speech-mode. "It was like this....."  
  
End of Part Four  
  
* * * * * 


	14. Lilensia State Prison

Part Five: Location - Lilensia State Prison.  
  
Sonic strode over defiantly to the Regiment Guard. The guard looked surprised to see him.  
  
"Sir," began Sonic, addressing the fairy formally. He would try the polite approach first. "You see this prison cell here?" He indicated Mara's cell. "In here is a fairy who can help us get through to the Other Side. Open the door and let her go free. We need her help." The prison keeper wrinkled his brow.  
  
"This fairy is under strict supervision of the Lilensia State prison keepers. I cannot allow this," he replied bluntly.  
  
"Sir, I demand that you let this fairy go free," Sonic repeated testily.  
  
"I am extremely sorry, Mr. Sonic, but I have direct orders from the Chancellor to keep her in custody. She has violated the fairy rules. It is strictly forbidden." The prison keeper spoke without emotion, waving his Regiment Guard badge in front of Sonic's face. "Mr. Sonic, I will have to escort you away from the area."  
  
"Listen to me, you dumb whimpering excuse for a soldier; I won't take no for an answer. If you want me to save this world, to save your precious 'fairy rules', then you're gonna march her right out of here now, and you're gonna tell the Chancellor to forget his stupid rules for ONE day, and you're gonna call me Sonic, not Mister Sonic, not Mister anything. Just Sonic." The prison guard was speechless for a moment. It looked like he was about to retort, when a shriek came from outside the prison. Sonic and the guard simultaneously ran to the window. Outside, opposite the prison was a Light Shrine, and a sacred fountain beside it. It was usually a quiet, respected area. But today there were fairies running about everywhere, screaming and shouting. Sonic strained his eyes to see what was causing the commotion.  
  
Sonic heard a buzzing noise and turned round. The prison keeper was picking up a small grey device, the source of the buzzing sound. He clicked it, and a voice came out of it. Just like a walkie-talkie, thought Sonic. He concentrated on what the voice was saying. Even Mara came up to the bars of her cell to listen.  
  
"Immediate assistance required. Report to nearest official immediately. Unidentified creature attacking Lilensia Court, located near the Light Shrine. This is an emergency, I repeat, this is an emergency." The voice cut off, then a few seconds later screaming was heard from the other end of the line. Sonic heard something that sounded faintly like 'Militon Roamer!' before the contact cut completely.  
  
"We don't have time for any more arguments," Sonic told the guard. He took the bunch of keys from round the guard's belt and fumbled with the lock. Mara pointed out a thin golden key. Sonic quickly released her. He looked again out of the window, the befuddled guard still wondering what was going on. Now the great ugly crab was in sight, tearing up everything in it's way, heading straight for the Light Shrine. It knocked over a street lamp, and magic fire spilled all over the place. Sonic began to run for the stairs.  
  
"No, Sonic, it'll take too long," Mara called. She grabbed hold of him. "Follow me."  
  
Sonic had no time to protest - Mara jumped right through the window, still holding onto Sonic. The glass smattered, and they began to fall. Mara stretched out her wings and carried him safely to the ground.  
  
"Thanks, Mara. I'll take it from here," Sonic said, and ran through the flames to where the Militon Roamer was. Mara watched him go.  
  
Sonic caught the monster's attention by chucking a flame-covered log at it. The monster shrieked, one shrill shriek, and clumped around to face Sonic. The fairies on the street, the onlookers, gathered in a semicircle on the other side of the flames, curious to see just how this newcomer would fight the monster.  
  
Picking up another burning log, Sonic stared defiantly at the monster. This should be easy, he thought.  
  
"Hey, ya big fat marshmallow! I'm over here! Yoohooo? Anybody home in that pea-sized brain of yours?" Sonic yelled. The monster bellowed, rearing up and displaying tons of fat, creamy white podgy belly. It's numerous legs snaked about, making it look like an upturned woodlouse.  
  
The Militon Roamer let out another blood-curdling roar. Sonic brandished the flaming stick, swishing it in front of him, showing that he was not afraid.  
  
"You know, I always say that marshmallows are better when cooked. Flame-grilled, to be precise," Sonic remarked. Then he leapt forwards, the fiery stick held high above his head. He aimed the stick, now engulfed with flame, directly at the crab's eyes, remembering his last fight with one of these creatures.  
  
But suddenly Sonic was not moving any more. He had stopped in mid- air. Then he felt a constriction around his belly. He was caught in one of the crab's pincers! The crowd gasped in shock. Sonic groaned, wiping a bead of sweat from his cheek. Maybe this was going to be harder than last time. Or maybe last time he had just picked on an extremely stupid crab.  
  
The crab shook Sonic, causing him to drop the stick. Sonic groaned again. Great. His last form of defence was gone.  
  
Sonic felt a warm sensation about his neck. Looking down, he saw the amulet burning bright gold. He touched the amulet, and felt a tingle in his hand. The Militon Roamer saw the amulet and it's eyes rocked with fear. The amulet was burning brighter, drowning everything around it in a fierce golden light. As the light touched the Militon Roamer, the creature let out a harsh cry of alarm, and dropped Sonic there and then. In a flurry of frenzied lumbering, it ran off, crashing directly into the wall of fire behind it. The monster burst into flames. One last squeal and it was gone.  
  
Sonic shook himself and closed his hand over the amulet, letting it cool down. He was glad that was not as messy as the last encounter he had had with one of those things.  
  
The Regiment Guard had arrived now and were dousing the flames with water from the fountain, via huge magical pipes. Sonic came forward as the crowds cheered.  
  
Mara ran up to him.  
  
"That was excellent!" she cried, throwing her arms around his neck. Sonic smiled.  
  
"Now they can't not let you free." He grinned. "C'mon, we've got a world or two to save." They went off towards the Fairy Temple of Light, on the outskirts of the city of Lilensia. And none of the guards tried to stop them.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Location - Rayna Forest, Trinity Islands.  
  
The 'Eggcopter' touched down on a grassy plain by the shores of the third Trinity Island, and Eggman proudly stepped out. He looked at the microchip in his hand for a second, smiled wickedly to himself and picked up his walkie-talkie. What fools those little pests were for even trying to reckon with his forces! This time it was inevitable that he was going to win. Tails would no doubt follow Eggman's flight route and meet him at the final location for the big showdown - there Eggman would be waiting, waiting to take the amulets from him. Two amulets were enough for the ceremony. And Tails was going to give them to him.  
  
Eggman snapped out of his own little world of thoughts and switched on his walkie-talkie. Stella had to know what he was up to.  
  
"Stella, are you there?"  
  
"Yeah, doctor, I'm here." For some reason she sounded ecstatically happy.  
  
"I've just reached Rayna Forest. Are you at the base?"  
  
"Aha. I've been here for over an hour," she replied.  
  
"Right. We have a slight change of plan." Eggman was about to launch into the details of what he considered to be his expertly cunning plan when Stella interrupted;  
  
"I've heard those pesky brats trashed your control room. You escaped with the Orb and the microchip. But they ruined your base. So I sorted them out."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"The fox boy and his two girlfriends are taking a little 'trip' in one of your aeroplanes. They're due for a friendly meeting with a cliff face right about now." Stella was very pleased with herself. No wonder she had sounded so happy. Now Eggman was happy too.  
  
"Excellent! That's what I like to hear! Now this makes it a lot easier for me." Eggman decided to forget his old plan. "Can you make it to the wreckage and pick up the two amulets lately in their possession?"  
  
"And I suppose I'll need to bring the Plasmic Generator over to Rayna as well? Maybe even a computer for the microchip? Sure, I can do that. Expect me to be there tomorrow. You know where we're meeting." Stella clicked off her walkie-talkie. Eggman groaned. It was so easy to get her annoyed.  
  
He was still uncertain about whether Stella had actually destroyed Tails or not. You never knew with that bunch. Too many times they had survived the impossible. He found it quite hard to believe that Stella had just wiped them out like that. And there was still the problem of Rouge. She had been in the base when Tails and Knuckles had vandalized it, she had helped them. But where was she now?  
  
* * * * * 


	15. A Reunion

Location - The other end of Rayna Forest.  
  
The forest was big, the forest was dark and the forest was dense. More dense than a bottle of curded milk. No space to stop and rest for the night. Tails was tired. He had been leading the party for an hour without stopping, which was not the best of ideas, with them being in their current condition.  
  
Tails went on a bit further - through a thicket and under an upturned tree trunk - and his heart leapt for joy. They had come to a clearing in the forest. Tails surveyed the area. It was fairly big, and a freshwater stream ran along the edge of it.  
  
"This looks like the perfect place to stop for the night," he said. Amy whooped in joy.  
  
"Oh, Tails! Yippee! At last, somewhere that isn't muddy!" Amy promptly plonked down on the grass.  
  
"I think you're right, Tails," said Loren. "We can camp out here until dawn. Then we can put our plan into action at daybreak." Loren swished her long, slick hair and sat down beside Amy. Sandi fished out some food from the depths of her pocket and everyone crowded round her to take a bit. They did not mind sleeping out in the open. It was better than sleeping in the plane wreckage. Loren and Tails had also had a scary premonition that someone would come looking for them there.  
  
As they all settled down to sleep, Tails pondered on this. Since meeting Loren for the first time, he had been continually having these weird feelings about things. Like the time when he fell into a trance in the Thunderstorm, on the way to Karmen Island. He suspected it was something to do with fairy magic. It could not be just him.  
  
Or was it?  
  
The thing was, since Loren had appeared in his world, the feelings had become even stronger, and much more frequent. Tails could tell she was hiding something, something about the darkness. He was even suspicious that he might be hiding something from himself, but he just was not sure what it was.  
  
Something deep was happening. Tails wanted to know exactly what it was. He was annoyed, not knowing. But he had the feeling he would know what to do when it happened.  
  
He soon realised that he was the only one left awake. If he did not sleep soon, he would have no energy left for tomorrow. And he would need the energy. Who knows what could happen.........  
  
* * * * *  
  
Location - The Temple of Light, Loren's World.  
  
Sonic supervised the transportation of the Regiment Guard into the Black Region. He stood in the great chamber of the Temple of Light, making sure everything worked fine. After what he had done to the second Militon Roamer, the fairies had accepted Sonic=s radical plans and agreed to release Mara of her charges.  
  
Now Mara was in control of the power regulator team, a team of roughly two dozen fairy magicians, that took care of the energy flow via the power regulator. It was basically what Mara had done before for Loren, but this time with a lot more fairies on her side to help her.  
  
Fairy soldiers marched one by one onto the same platform that Loren had once stood upon. And, one by one, they vanished into the shimmering golden light. That light reminded Sonic of the light that his amulet had given off when he was fighting the crab. Sonic reached for the amulet round his neck and toyed with it absently.  
  
Mara came over to talk to him.  
  
"Hi." She looked at the amulet that Sonic was turning over in his hands. "That amulet's very special to you, isn't it?"  
  
"Yeah. I suppose I'll have to give it back to you after this is all over," Sonic murmured.  
  
"Maybe. But I hope not."  
  
"This amulet.....did you see...earlier today when I was fighting the monster....did you see what it did to it?" Sonic looked pensive.  
  
"The amulet scared it away, didn't it?"  
  
"I don't understand why."  
  
"Did it happen the first time you fought a Militon Roamer?"  
  
"No....... Wait! I didn't have the amulet on me then! I dropped it - right before I fought. So that's why the monster didn't run away from me then."  
  
"Yes. I think the amulets terrify the monsters. The monsters were released when the Orb was stolen. Once, the monsters must have been contained as raw evil inside the Orb. And...."  
  
".....the Amulets sealed up the Void, so that makes the monsters scared of the Amulets!" Sonic finished. The two were getting very excited. Like children that have just discovered some amazing new secret.  
  
"And that's why the monsters destroy all our holy places! They hate it! They hate the thing that imprisoned them for so long."  
  
"It's all a bit clearer now," said Sonic. He looked up at the platform. The last of the fairy soldiers had gone. "Look, I've got to go now." Mara looked at the empty platform. Sonic went over to the platform and slowly stepped on to it, ready to journey into the Black Region.  
  
"You've got us this far, Mara. Now it's my turn."  
  
* * * * *  
  
Location - Rayna Forest, Trinity Islands.  
  
Light rain drizzled down from the nebulous grey clouds above. It woke Tails, gently pattering over his face. He jolted awake, sitting up abruptly. His eyes took in the fresh, calm surroundings and he breathed in deeply.  
  
"It was only a dream, only a dream," he half-whispered aloud, shaking off the unpleasant visions that had come to visit him in the night. This dream had been about planes, and horrible things happening, things that he shivered even to think about. He hated nightmares. It was odd though, he had never before had such a bad dream involving aeroplanes - his favourite things!  
  
Tails then remembered what had happened the previous day. From meeting Knuckles in the Mystic Ruins through to crashing the plane in Rayna Forest, he recounted exactly what had happened. Still shivering from the dream, he got up and went to the stream to wash his face.  
  
Presently, Loren woke and knelt down next to him by the stream.  
  
"Bad dream, eh Tails?" she asked.  
  
"Huh? How did you know?"  
  
"I could sense it."  
  
"Oh.....well anyway, we'd better get this plan of ours going," said Tails. Behind them, Amy and Sandi had just woken up. They could tell because all of a sudden they heard two squabbling voices, arguing over the condition of their clothes and other like matters.  
  
"I'll need to find out where the Orb is, first," said Loren. She went to ask Sandi if she could borrow the Amulet. Sandi consented, then moved closer so she could see what was going on. Amy moved next to her, argument immediately forgotten.  
  
Loren sat cross-legged on the bare ground with the amulet held out in front of her. She muttered incantations almost inaudibly, eyes shut tight. After a while, golden light surrounded her and her voice dropped even lower. Suddenly there was a great burst of light, and Loren relaxed her muscles and opened her eyes.  
  
"The Hiatus Orb is on this island." That was all she said.  
  
"It's here? Are you sure?" Amy asked.  
  
"I am sure. It is definitely here." Loren looked at Tails. "Now, are you ready for the journey?" Tails confirmed that he was.  
  
He was about to journey into the Black Region to find Sonic.  
  
Loren held the amulet up and said another eerie incantation. A black mist appeared and slowly spread it's sinuous tentacles around the amulet. The mist grew, the air around them chilled. Tails stepped forward.  
  
"Now remember, direct your thoughts to where you want to be," Loren instructed him. "Don't let the Black Region numb your senses." Tails nodded.  
  
"I'll be back soon." With those parting words, he stepped into the black mist and disappeared. Then the black mist evaporated.  
  
The first thing that Tails felt was the cold. Just like in his earlier vision; numbing his senses and cocooning him in it's tentacles of icy obscurity. He opened his eyes, and when he looked around him, it was a totally different sensation from the usual. It was seeing, but somehow it was not proper seeing, it was seeing as it would be in a dream. But this was reality.  
  
He saw darkness. He saw loneliness. He saw fear. All was woven into this never-ending mist, which was beginning to wind through him, too. Tails focused on Sonic. He had to find Sonic and bring him back to fight Eggman. Loren had agreed that Eggman would not expect to see Sonic, and if Tails went through the Black Region alone then it would be easier to find Sonic.  
  
So - first he would find Sonic, then he would find Eggman.  
  
Tails felt a subtle change in the flow of the mist. It felt almost warm to him. Before he could detect what it was, it shifted again and he was drawn somewhere else.  
  
Tails! The darkness.....is......  
  
What was the big deal with the darkness? What was it that he had to know?  
  
The Black Region seemed a bit like the Void to Tails. What if they were the same thing? And another thing - this Void seemed to Tails to be a bit like Chaos. Chaos had the same negative energy charge, and the Chaos Emeralds have the ability to warp. The Black Region has the ability to warp.  
  
Sonic!  
  
This time he sensed a faint reply. Could Sonic be here in the Black Region?  
  
He reached out with his mind once more. He was getting closer. Tails walked straight ahead, right through the mist. He did not know what was in front of him, but he carried on walking. Small bushes and shrubs began to appear either side of him. The mist was disappearing and things were getting clearer. Ahead of him he saw shapes.  
  
Sonic! The shapes were moving, getting closer. Tails began running. His eyes were seeing more clearly now, not in that horrible dreamlike fashion. There was a line of figures, marching steadily. It looked like an army. And a single figure at the front, leading them on. Tails knew who that was. Spiky, spiny, punk hairdo, a flash of blue, the familiar way he walked......... Tails would know that figure anywhere.  
  
"Sonic!" he yelled, running forwards through the mist. Sonic saw him and yelled back to him.  
  
"Tails! It's you! But - what're you doing in this place?" Sonic ran forwards too. Tails threw his arms round his best friend in greeting. The soldiers behind them simply stared.  
  
"I'm rescuing you," Tails said with an air of leadership. "C'mon, we have to hurry. Eggman's gonna unleash the Void soon and we need to stop him! Amy and Sandi and Loren are on the other side waiting for us to come back." He pulled Sonic along by the hand.  
  
"Amy and who and who.....er," Sonic spluttered.  
  
"Oh, you won't know them. Sandi's my sister and Loren is a fairy."  
  
"Sister?!? Boy, do you have some explaining to do," said Sonic. Tails laughed.  
  
"You know what? Amy said exactly the same thing." Sonic scowled when Tails said this, but brightened up immediately. It was good to hear about old friends.  
  
"Good old Amy.... Well, I'm kinda on the same mission you are - namely ruining Eggman's plot again - but if this means I get to make a fool out of Eggman quicker, I'm coming! Troops, follow me!" Sonic said happily, and the soldiers marched after them.  
  
Tails reached his thoughts out towards Loren. The journey back was quicker than the journey there. The onrush of coldness lasted for only a couple of seconds this time, and the dreadful feeling of tumbling down into the abyss was over as soon as it had started.  
  
Then everything slowed down. The mist parted to reveal a gap, and Tails walked through it. Sonic and the army followed. They passed through a screen of golden light and came out into the little clearing in the forest again.  
  
Tails rubbed his eyes as the light from the sun glared in his face. It was like emerging from a swimming pool, with chlorine water stinging the eyes. He saw Loren, Amy and Sandi all seated on the floor. Loren was just breaking out of her trance and Amy and Sandi looked as though they had just woken up from a deeply boring sleep.  
  
The last of the soldiers filed out from the golden portal and Loren snapped awake. She muttered one last incantation, then the portal faded and the amulet dropped in her hands. Loren turned to look at Tails. Her mouth was agape.  
  
"Tails, you took ages!" Amy said. Then she looked behind him at the army of soldiers and she could not quite believe what she was seeing. Tails realised what a weird spectacle it really was. He had just marched out of a golden door in the air with Sonic and about a thousand soldiers, and they were now standing in regimental fashion in a forest in the middle of nowhere.  
  
"I found Sonic," Tails said brightly.  
  
"Yeah, well done, but who're these guys?" said Amy, pointing at the soldiers. Sonic stepped forwards.  
  
"This is the Regiment Guard, the finest fairy army in the world. Or worlds," he proclaimed proudly.  
  
"They're going to help us beat Eggman," Tails added. Amy and Sandi were speechless.  
  
"And I guess I'll navigate using the Amulet again," said Loren. Sonic looked at her quizzically. Tails explained.  
  
"Loren can find out where Eggman is using the Amulet. We know he's somewhere on this island."  
  
"Well let's go, then," Sonic said, without waiting for a response. Tails groaned. It was so like Sonic to do everything at once, without stopping for a rest. He waited until Loren was ready to show them the way, then he followed her through the forest.  
  
* * * * * 


	16. Plasmic Buildup

Tails and Sonic walked side by side through the forest. Loren was in the lead, the Amulet glowing in her hand. The army followed behind Sonic, bringing up the rear. Tails had found out from Amy that it was ten-thirty and he had been over four hours in the Black Region, without even realising. It had not seemed that long to him. Tails was deep in conversation with his old friend.  
  
"So you organised this whole army thing? Wow..." Tails breathed, as he listened to Sonic retell the story of what had happened in Loren's world. He was especially intrigued by the tale of the Militon Roamers.  
  
"I'm pretty impressed with what you did too, Tails. I mean, sheesh, when I got swallowed by that Orb, I was just hoping you'd get out of that alleyway safely. I never thought you'd be leading this great big mission."  
  
"Ditto. Well, I've had my fair share of adventure. After this, I'm gonna retire."  
  
"Tails! You've not even got a job yet!"  
  
"I know, but I'm still gonna retire anyway. Don't you ever get tired of being the centre of attention? Since you got transported into Loren's world, I found that everything about this adventure was different. It's hard. And all the time it was Tails this and Tails that.....everyone was interested in me, it was always me they were trying to get. I know I've been chased after, before with you, but when you were gone I was the one in charge and I became the main target," Tails confessed.  
  
"Yeah, you get used to it after a while." Sonic nodded sympathetically.  
  
"I put others in danger, too. I wish I hadn't. When Stella kidnapped Amy I felt awful."  
  
"Boy, do I know how that feels," Sonic agreed. "Not about Amy, of course," he added hastily, reluctant to have any association with her. Tails chuckled. Sonic and Amy were certainly an odd couple. She was mad about him, but he found her extremely annoying and showed as little affection as possible to her (Tails knew that he really did like her, of course).  
  
One of the Regiment Guard soldiers ran up to Sonic.  
  
"Sonic, we are missing half of the Guard. Sectors Twenty through to Thirty One have gone missing," he reported. Sonic started. He then paused for a moment, to think things through.  
  
"Okay. It=s best if the entire army stops until we find the missing troops. We don't want to go further away from them. Call the march to a halt," said Sonic, before going to tell Loren what was going on. Tails assumed that Loren had agreed with Sonic, because she carried on as Sonic sped past them to stay with the army.  
  
"See ya later!" he called to Tails.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Knuckles and Rouge sat together on the cliff top, watching the sun rising high into the midday sky. The waves lapped gently onto the rocks below them, and the sandy beaches stretched out for miles on either side of the mountain.  
  
They were together now. It felt like everything was just getting better.  
  
Rouge suddenly lifted her head from his shoulder.  
  
"What's wrong?" asked Knuckles.  
  
"I can hear something - down there." Rouge pointed down to the sands below them. "Didn't Tails say something about the Orb, that something was going to happen today?"  
  
"I think you're right." Knuckles peered over the edge of the cliff, down at the sands. In the cover of the trees, he caught a glimpse of something that looked to him like the Plasmic Generator. "Let's check it out. If Tails needs our help, we should be there."  
  
* * * * * 


	17. Into the Darkness

It seemed like ages before they stopped at last. Loren called for quiet, and they advanced about ten metres more before she parted the bushes in front of her. Tails, Amy and Sandi looked through. There was a flat area of bare ground, slightly bigger than the clearing in the forest that they had slept in the previous night. It was surrounded by trees and bushes to the right and left, beyond it lay a fine stretch of golden sand and even further than that was the sea. But in the very centre of the scene was the Plasmic Generator. Eggman and Stella were there, preparing for the final showdown at midday.  
  
Loren had told them what she had discussed with Sonic. He was leading the soldiers not far behind them; once he had found the missing troops he would rush in to assist when they needed it. So he was the backup plan - but first they had to confront Eggman.  
  
Tails looked at the countdown clock that Eggman had placed in front of the Plasmic Generator. Eleven-thirty-one. Half an hour.  
  
He sprang from the bushes with a wild cry, Amy, Sandi and Loren behind him. Sonic would come any moment now.  
  
"Eggman, you won't get away with this," he yelled, catching Eggman's attention just as he was putting the Hiatus Orb in the capsule within the Plasmic Generator. Eggman looked up, and when he saw Tails he was very, very angry.  
  
"This is the last time you intervene," he growled.  
  
"Oh yeah? We'll just see about that."  
  
"We will indeed." Eggman said. He glanced at Stella, who was at the foot of the generator. She nodded, and drew out a gun. She walked forwards steadily, keeping all four of them within easy firing range.  
  
"Nobody move," she said without expression. Tails stood stock still, and as he did so, noticed a red shape in the bushes, creeping up on Stella from behind. It was Knuckles! He saw Tails looking at him and put a finger to his lips, to indicate silence. Tails understood.  
  
A few seconds later, Stella was attacked from behind by a very ferocious echidna. As Knuckles and Stella fought, Rouge also appeared out of the bushes and sidled up to Tails.  
  
"We were just up on the mountain over there, when we saw something going on, so we thought we'd come and help you."  
  
"Thanks. You were just in time," Tails answered. Meanwhile, Stella had tackled Knuckles and threw him forwards at Tails's feet. Knuckles thudded to the ground, exhausted by the ferocity of Stella's defence. Now she had all of them under her control.  
  
Tails was anxious about Sonic and the backup team. They should have been here by now. Where were they?  
  
"Now would be a good time to show up....." Amy whispered to him. Then, as if it was a direct answer to her prayers, Sonic ran through the trees.  
  
"Hey, guys! There you are! I lost the backup team....whouaa!" He stopped short when he saw Stella with the gun, and Eggman atop the Plasmic Generator. Eggman's reaction showed he was no less surprised than Sonic.  
  
"Sonic? No! But - how could you.....argh, doesn't matter. Stella! Take care of this lot for me."  
  
"With pleasure," she said briskly. Then she looked at Sonic. "You, the blue pig, go join your friends." She waved the gun at Tails and co. Sonic scowled. He did not like that last comment. Reluctantly, he did as Stella told him.  
  
"You lost the backup team? How on earth......" Amy began, but she stopped when Stella took hold of her arm brusquely. She pressed the gun to it and injected Amy's arm. It was a tranquilliser. No! They could not afford to fall asleep, not now! Tails tried to get her off Amy's arm but it was too late; the tranquilliser was already taking its effect upon Amy. Stella turned in annoyance at Tails's attack and shot a dart into Tails's arm also. He saw the same happen to Sandi, but then he felt himself slipping out of consciousness and did not have the energy to look around him any more. He felt rough hands pulling his arms behind him, but he was too drowsy to object.  
*  
  
Tails groggily opened his eyes and tried to move about. He found that he could not. Looking around in an agitated fashion, he found that his arms were tied behind him to some sort of pole. Sandi was beside him, and Amy beside her, and Knuckles beside Amy. Sonic, Loren and Rouge were somewhere beyond Knuckles.  
  
Sandi moved her head to look at Tails.  
  
"Can't....get..free of ...darned.....tree trunk...." she moaned. Then Tails realised that it was a tree trunk he was tied to. Before he could do any more realising, Eggman strode over triumphantly. Tails watched him take the First Amulet from around Sandi's neck. He did the same to Knuckles, who had the Third Amulet, and finally, Sonic, who had the Second Amulet.  
  
"I'll take these," he said happily. They could not stop him. Eggman went back to the Plasmic Generator and placed the three Amulets together on the metal pad. Tails read with horror on the clock that it was eleven-fifty- five.  
  
"This is the only chance we'll have for the next million years," Stella reminded Eggman. "So don't get it wrong."  
  
"I'm not planning to," he said. Then the Orb began to gather power. The skies darkened as though there was a storm approaching and the air chilled as the Orb drew in power from its surroundings. Eggman's face was covered with glee as he worked the controls on the generator.  
  
Without warning, the fairy army rushed out from the trees. The captives gave a gasp of surprise. Eggman gave a gasp of horror, and Stella clenched her teeth in anger.  
  
Tails felt his bonds loosen and he jumped up, ready to wage war against Eggman once more. With a note of dismay, he saw that only a small section of the army had actually come to their aid.  
  
"Where's the rest of you?" he asked.  
  
"They got....um....lost," one soldier confessed before moving on to free Sandi. Soon everyone else was free too and they came to stand beside Tails.  
  
"Thanks, guys," Sonic called to the soldiers. The soldiers lined up, preparing for battle. There were about thirty of them, no more. Stella drew out her weapon, a real gun this time, stopping all of them before they could make a move. "Dammit," muttered Sonic.  
  
But Stella hesitated. Tails was expecting her to shoot. She looked at the clock, which now read eleven-fifty-eight. She looked from Eggman, to Tails's gang, back to Eggman again. Then in one swift movement, she leapt to the side and climbed up the generator, knocking Eggman out of the way; pushing him aside and taking control of the Plasmic Generator herself.  
  
"Now, are you ready to do this?" Sonic raised an eyebrow at Tails.  
  
"You're on." Tails said. And with that, they rushed in for the attack.  
  
Stella was working furiously at the Plasmic Generator's control panel. She had a matter of seconds to get it to work. Just then, a horde of soldiers popped up all around her. She drew her gun, but did not quite know who to aim it at. There were too many people. Sonic and Knuckles pushed their way through. Knuckles attacked Stella again, and Sonic went over to the control panel. He looked fervently over the buttons and levers, but it made no sense to him. Knuckles turned and looked over his shoulder at Sonic.  
  
"We need Tails," said Sonic. Knuckles opened his mouth to reply, but was thrown backwards by Stella. She pushed Sonic out of the way, hurling him into a couple of soldiers. Then Stella lunged for the controls and managed to complete the procedure, before she herself was pulled back by one of the Regiment Guards.  
  
The clock turned twelve o-clock. Midday.  
  
Instead of drawing in energy, the Orb began to expand. Dark mists rose up in an ominous mushroom cloud, slowly spreading across the sky. Stella laughed evilly as Sonic and Knuckles cowered away from the brainwashing fog.  
  
"Ha ha! Looks like you lost," she sneered. Sonic shot her an acid glance and vanished amongst the soldiers to find Tails.  
  
Eggman had recovered from his fall and he got up doggedly, a bit dazed, and extremely mad with Stella. He saw the dark cloud over the Plasmic Generator and knew that it had begun. He took a step forward.  
  
"Hey, you!" A high, perky voice stopped him in his tracks. "The pompous, fat windbag over there, yeah, I mean you." Eggman whisked around to confront the speaker.  
  
"Who....." He came face to face with Sandi and Amy. Sandi smiled impishly.  
  
"Hiya," she said. Then she attacked.  
  
The cloud began pouring down on them all. Little droplets of black rain melted from the cumulonimbus formation and spattered them in the scrum below. Tails pushed through the crowd, trying to reach the generator. As the rain touched the fairy soldiers, they started to disappear into the mist. It did not have any effect on Tails, though.  
  
The rain was blinding. Tails could hardly see a thing as he was crushed and jostled amongst the frantic bodies. The fairies started screaming and shouting as they discovered that they were disappearing. Tails was dragged underfoot in the fray and fell on the ground, which had been turned to mud in the rain. He got up shakily and found himself quite alone. He could not see more than five metres in front of him due to the rain, but he could still see that all the fairies were gone. They had vanished completely! The Void had done something weird to them. All of them apart from Loren.  
  
"Tails, over here!" Tails looked, and saw Sonic approaching.  
  
"I need to get to the generator," Tails said.  
  
"I know!" Sonic took hold of his hand and they ran towards the generator, stumbling in the mud streams which were fast becoming waterlogged. They reached the side of the vast machine and began to climb, the black rain gushing in torrents all around them. Tails slipped once or twice, but kept on going. Above them, the dark cloud was slowly spreading. It would not take all that long for it to smother the skies entirely. And, when it did that, the colossal force of energy it would release would immediately be transmitted all over the world by the virus that Eggman had stolen from Tails.  
  
Rouge had been the last to be freed. She had also come off worst from the effects of the tranquilliser. The next couple of minutes had been a confusing onrush for her. Tails and the others had charged, and the dark cloud had risen up from the generator. Then the rain came down. She became a bit disoriented through the mist and the rain. At first there were lots of others around her, then all of a sudden there was nobody in sight. For a moment, she thought she had somehow been separated form the others. How did I get so lost? she wondered. She felt someone grab her forearm. It was the fairy that was friends with Tails.  
  
"We have to stop the Void," she said. Rouge agreed, glad that she had found someone, and she followed the fairy through the rain. Slowly, the familiar shape of the Plasmic Generator came into view. Blurred shapes in the distance....Rouge could hear voices but they were drowned out in an odd, loud drone, like on a commercial airplane, when the background noise of the engines drowns out all other sounds. The droning was coming from the generator itself.  
  
Over on the other side of the generator, Sandi and Amy had cornered Eggman. In desperation, he pulled out a metal bauble from inside a pocket, clicked a little button on it and threw it on the floor in front of Amy and Sandi. The bauble jittered, then sprang open, releasing millions of minuscule metal balls, like marbles. The balls scattered everywhere, and the girls watched, baffled. After laying still on the ground for a couple of seconds, the balls began to jitter, and this time each tiny little ball transformed into one of the spider robots that Stella had used back in Eggman's base. The spindly legs splayed out and twitched into motion. The ground was littered with them.  
  
The girls shrieked. Eggman laughed. He took the chance to make his way to the Plasmic Generator. There was still time to take over from Stella.  
  
Sonic and Tails reached the top of the generator. Knuckles was still fighting Stella, and giving her a very hard time, too. Stella saw Tails and Sonic heading for the controls, trying to squeeze past Knuckles and she in the little space they had atop the generator. There's no way I'm going to let them beat me now, she thought fiercely. And in a fit of rage, she hurled herself at Knuckles one last time. He went crashing into Sonic, and the two of them tumbled over the edge of the generator.  
  
Tails gasped as they fell out of sight. He knew that he was the only one close enough now, the only one able to stop all of this. Flicking his fingers over the controls, he unlocked the Orb from its capsule. The Orb floated upwards until it was at eye level with Tails. He began to gaze into its dark depths......  
  
The sound of a weapon being cocked brought him sharply to his senses. He looked behind him and there was Stella, eyebrows lowered, an evil grin on her face. Raindrops streamed down her face and made her hair hang in limp strands. She had a gun. Tails gulped and took a step back, only to find that the control panel was behind him. He froze.  
  
Now everything seemed to go in slow-motion. Stella brought the gun up.  
  
"I believe we have a score to settle, Tails." She pulled the trigger. Tails felt the bullet penetrate his chest. A split-second later came the bang. Sonic and Knuckles, Amy and Sandi, Rouge and Loren looked up simultaneously as Tails staggered forwards, clutching his chest. Warm blood seeped out of the wound. Tails reeled violently to the side, nearly falling over and catching hold of the control panel to regain his balance. The pain was incredible.  
  
The darkness..... He remembered the Orb. Then he understood. He knew what he had to do. It was what Loren had been trying to tell him all along. He saw Stella's eyes gleaming with triumph. Her malicious smile. You won't win, he thought. He haltingly turned around to face the Orb. It pulsated, it grew bigger and blacker. Tails took a deep breath in. Everyone could see what he was about to do.......  
  
"Tails, no!" Sonic cried. Tails stepped into the Void. He made the final sacrifice. And it all stopped.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Location - The Void.  
  
Dreamy voices woke Tails. He was tumbling, on and on, never stopping. It felt like the Black Region. Maybe it was. He could not tell.  
  
What had just happened? Had he been dreaming? Things were so different in here, wherever 'here' was. The sharp pain in his chest mingled in with his waking dreams and distorted mind. Stop the pain, he called out silently with his mind. He felt the darkness of the Void embrace him. The pain was numbed, it lifted from him, it subsided, and tender folds of darkness caressed him.  
  
Was he still alive?  
  
The darkness was his friend. He understood perfectly now. The opposite of extreme good is extreme evil. They run parallel. Good can come out of evil. In the heart of the chaos there is calm. And sometimes, to end the darkness you have to become it.  
  
Extreme opposites. Opposites so extreme that they are one and the same thing. And all this trouble that had been caused over the years was because nobody had seen the Void for what it really was. The good forces had just tried to fight it without first understanding it, as the fairies had done. And the bad forces had used it, without first thinking of the consequences.  
  
He was still uncertain as to whether he was alive or not. In his dreamy state, it was hard to tell. Well, even if I am not alive, he thought, I did what was right.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Location - Rayna Forest.  
  
The instant Tails entered the Void, all the dark energy began to flow back into it. The rain stopped. Then the Hiatus Orb levitated, floated high above the generator, sucking in all the black mist. The dark material began spinning, faster and faster, and the Orb rose higher.  
  
Sonic and the gang were still open-mouthed at what had happened to Tails. A few seconds after Tails disappeared, Sonic rushed at Stella. She was caught unawares.  
  
"This is for Tails!" he yelled. And WHAMMM! Sonic struck with terrifying force, pouring out all his energy and hatred into his attack. He never usually hit a lady, but Stella was a special exception. She fell to the ground, unconscious.  
  
The mist continued to swirl in a tornado formation above the Orb. As the skies cleared, the Orb sank down towards the ground, in front of the generator. The Amulets began to lose their golden brilliance. As the last of the Void's energy swirled into the Orb, the sun broke out from the white clouds above. The fairies that had disappeared in the weird 'rain' began to come back again. Then the Hiatus Orb broke up into a sparkling silver dust, and smothered the metre or so of ground beneath it. When it disappeared, only Tails's body was left behind.  
  
Sandi was the first to run over to him. She knelt down beside him and began to cry. Amy stood behind her and gently laid a hand on her shoulder. Knuckles bit his lip in dismay and Rouge wiped a tear from her eye.  
  
Loren closed her eyes and cast her head down. She had known that this would happen all along, and she did not want to see this moment.  
  
Sonic left the knocked-out Stella and jumped off the Plasmic Generator to where Tails lay. He put a hand to his chest, avoiding the bloodstained wound.  
  
"He's still breathing," he said calmly, trying very hard to stop the tears springing to his eyes. He slowly lifted Tails up in his arms. "My old buddy....my best friend....." He had made up his mind not to cry, but choked on the words, just the same. "I was always too busy trying to get to the top, I never noticed how hard you tried......"  
  
* * * * *  
  
When Tails awoke, he saw faces all around him, a hazy straw roof and wooden walls with sunlight streaming through wide windows. He was lying on a soft mattress of straw with a comfy pillow at his head and a blanket over him. He seemed to be in a hut of some description. As everything around him gradually came into focus, he saw Sonic, Amy, Sandi, Knuckles and Rouge around him.  
  
"Tails, you're awake!" Sandi breathed. Tails managed a weak smile but then began to cough. He felt spurts of pain rack his chest, where the bullet had perforated. He touched the spot. There was a bandage wrapped around his chest. The Void existed no longer; and so the pain had returned. He remembered the way it had taken away the pain. Not all darkness is bad.  
  
"Hey, hey, take it easy, buddy," Sonic said as Tails coughed once more. Sonic gently forced him back into the soft pillow to rest. Tails noticed that someone was missing.  
  
"Where's....Loren....?" he croaked. "Is she....gone?"  
  
"No, I'm still here," said Loren, appearing at his side.  
  
"Lo...ren..." Tails whispered hoarsely, trying to sit up.  
  
"I have to go back home now," she said. "Thankyou for what you did, Tails. I'll always remember you..." Her voice was fading. She was disappearing. Her soft, delicate wings returned to her as she became a spiritual apparition again. Tails gazed at her sad, solemn face as she slowly faded out of sight.  
  
Tails reached out a hand, too weak to shout.  
  
"Come.....back.... Please......?" He felt a single, cold tear trickle down his cheek.  
  
"Loren's gone home," Sonic said. "She belongs there. It's her world." Tails did not reply. There was too much to think about. He closed his eyes.  
  
He had really liked Loren. Now the battle was over, everything was complete, he had done so much, gone through it all; the pain, the fear, the doubt. Too much to go through.  
  
Loren disappearing like that, so solemn and sincere, it was like the last straw. He felt the icy tears streaming down his face before he was aware that he was crying.  
  
Sandi hugged him close to her.  
  
"It's okay," she whispered.  
  
"Yeah, everything is going to be fine," said Amy as cheerfully as she could. "We called the police - they've already taken Stella into custody and they're arranging a first aid helicopter to take you to hospital right now. Eggman escaped somehow...must've been in all that rain....."  
  
"Don't worry, Tails. You've done it. You're a hero," said Sonic. Tails acknowledged all this in silence. He hugged Sandi back, and in that golden moment, wished they could stay like that forever.  
  
The End.  
  
* * * * * 


End file.
